Four days left until aquabike athletes will compete in the second big race of the season. The Aquabike European Championships take place in Bilbao this Saturday. Certainly an iconic location for what is for most participating athletes the big final of the racing season. In our preview we take a closer look at the swim, the transition, the bike course and – of course – the final run to the finishline. Will the last few metres off the bike again bring some significant changes in the race results? At least chances are good, that the influence of this little but controversial part of the race will be not as big as at the World´s in Samorin.
The Swim
The race will start at 3:20 pm on Saturday, September 24th with a Rolling Start. The athletes will enter Nervión River right next to the Estadio de San Mamés one by one from a pontoon to start the 1,9 km swim course. The first half of the swim is upstream, before you turn to swim back downstream. There shouldn´t be significant current though.
Coming out of the water the way from the swim exit through T1 all the way to the mount line is about 800 metres – all on concrete surface.
The Bike Course
The 82,5 km bike course starts with a flat section, passing the famous Guggenheim Museum after 2,7 km. The first climb starts not very much later though. After only 4 km you have to climb up through the outskirts of Bilbao for about 1,4 km with gradients up to 7%. After a few rather flat kilometres, athletes will hit the main obstacle of the day.
The Paso de Aretxabalaga starts after 22 km on the bike. 4,3 km long, with an average gradient of 5,6% and maximum gradients of 10%. This is the only longer climb of the day. But the rest of the bike course yet goes through typical Basque country roads – always a beautiful scenery, but which are never quite flat after all.
The most demanding part on the second half of the bike course is certainly the way up to Unbe. With an average gradient of 2% you probably can´t really call it a climb. But it´s 9 kilometres on a consistently ascending road. Although it´s probably not as consistent as it looks on the elevation profile. After a fast downhill the last 10 kilometres coming back to transition are flat.
The Finish
Unfortunately there isn´t a detailed map of the second transition and aquabike finish yet. The triathlon finish is more than one kilometre away from T2. But I have good news for those who are afraid to have another long run to the finishline like in Samorin. According to the race organizer the way from the exit of T2 to the finishline is only 60 metres. So there´s obviously a separate aquabike dedicated finishline for this race.
The Weather
At the moment the weather forecast for Saturday afternoon doesn´t look too promising. Unless you also like some water on the bike course. Chances seem high for some rain during the bike leg. So better be careful on the descents. And there is some wind from Northwest expected. Which means there is probably some headwind in the middle part of the bike course – much of which should be quite protected though. There should be nice tailwind on the second half of the road up to Unbe and especially on the last 9 kilometres alongside the river shore back to Bilbao.
The Favourites
There are still athletes who don´t really have a lot of aquabike races in their home country or region. So there´s always room for a surprise winner when a strong athlete who hasn´t participated in an aquabike race before, enters the world of aquabike at a championship race. However, there will be a strong field of aquabike athletes on the startline in Bilbao. So it certainly won´t be easy for a rookie to take the overall win.
Just as in World Championships there´s also no official overal European Championship title to take at Bilbao. Which also means there isn´t even an official overall race result. But the strongest athletes overall still deserve some more attention. And we will give it to them. Although there is no “official” overall winner of the race, we will still look at the full results in our race report. And for the preview we also only take a look at the strongest competitors overall, although they often might not compete in the same age groups.
The Men´s Race
It´s pretty clear who´s the men to beat in this race. After not being able to defend his World Championship title in Samorin, Adam Lambrechts will be in Bilbao to defend his European title.
Two of his strongest competitors will come from Great Britain. Nathan Morgan is currently #6 in Aquabike Ranking Europe. After winning three middle distance races in England this season he´s sitting only a few points behind Lambrechts in the rankings. But with no points to defend at the Europeans he will most likely rank a little higher after the event.
Kris Whitelaw only ompeted in one standard distance aquabike race so far this season. But winning against quite some competition at Northumberland Triathlon certainly makes him a man to watch.
Also Jose Luis BUENO ROJAS did only one aquabike race this season. In early April he was the fastest of 92 finishers at the ICAN Triathlon Alicante and looks to be the strongest Spaniard in the field.
We also can be curious for the National Aquabike Champion of Ireland. Young athlete Ross HAMILTON took clear wins in this year´s as well as last year´s nationals in Ireland. Bilbao will be his first appearance in an international aquabike championship race.
While the World Champoin and runner up will be absent in Bilbao, there´s another strong German athlete who´s worth mentioning. Oliver RAU came in 10th at the World´s in Samorin, but 4th in last year´s Europeans in Walchsee – on a bike course which is certainly more comparable to the one in Bilbao.
And there is quite a bunch of other strong British athletes to watch out for: Andrew Gowland, Colin Nadin, Andrew Tourell and Adam Phillips all showed remarkable performances in previous races this season. Let´s see if one of them can participate in the fight for the top ranks of the race.
The Women´s Race
There´s also a clear favourite in the women´s race. After not competing in international championships for more than three years, former World and European Champion Amy Pritchard appears on the startlist for the European´s in Bilbao. And she certainly still knows how to swim and cycle fast. Less than two weeks before the championships, she took the win in a strong field of competitors at Bournemouth International Triathlon.
Her main rival will probably come from Spain. Irati Mendia Garcia is the reigning National Aquabike Middle Distance Champion. She won her title earlier this year not too far from Bilbao in Pamplona – in a race with a similar demanding bike course.
But there also quite some other strong athletes from the UK competing in Bilbao. Most of all two former #1 of the Aquabike Ranking Europe. Claire Crabtree had a great season in 2021, holding #1 in the Women´s Ranking for almost the first half of 2022. Though she did not compete in an aquabike race in 2022 yet, nor in an international aquabike championship race. Which is also true for the other former #1 Amy Sole. She did however already show some strong performances this season, taking three wins so far.
Also current #2 in the rankings will be competing in Bilbao. Nicki Broad took several podiums this season and is certainly one to watch. Just as the current #4 in the rankings Susie Peart, who yet won two middle distance races in the UK this season.
Other UK athletes in the women´s aquabike race to watch out for are Kathryn Bond, Kate Miller, Victoria Harrison and Claire Martin.
But there are also some strong female athletes from Germany on the startlinein Bilbao. Most notable of course last year´s runner up from Walchsee Sandra Wirth. With Gabriele Keck and Tami Stuetzel two more Top 6 finishers from last year´s European Championships will be there to race for medals. Just as Elke Schoenhardt who finished 12th at the World´s in Samorin in August.
With Ainara Benavente Babace and Itziar YARRITU LOSA there are also two more girls from Spain who will be eager to race for the top positions on home soil after shwoing strong performances in this year´s and last year´s national aquabike championships.
So that was our European Aquabike Championships 2022 preview. I hope you enjoyed reading and I hope we will see an exciting race. For those of you who are at the startline in Bilbao, good luck and all the best for the race!
Some maybe helpful links:
ETU European Aquabike Championships Bilbao 2022 race details on aquabike events
Start List – only available by Age Group