Supreme ride gives Rolli Ironman win

German Markus Rolli dominated the bike stage and coasted to victory while Czech Radka Kahlefeldt outdueled Swiss Caroline Steffen in the run stage to keep her crown in the Alveo Ironman Davao 70.3 presented by Petron at the Azuela Cove on Sunday.

Rolli flaunted his superb riding skills and timed two hours and 50 seconds to build a big lead over veteran Craig Alexander, then bucked pain in his legs in the 21K run to secure the victory in 3:49:29 counting efforts in the 1.9-kilometer swim and the 90k bike stages.

He was also first out of the water after clocking 23:22. Rolli was timed at 1:22.19 for the run.
Mauricio Mendez, who rallied to edge Reed in last year’s inaugural staging, suffered a technical problem with his bike and didn’t finish the race.

Alexander, a former five-time world champion from Australia, fell short of his rally and settled for second in 3:52:21, while Tim Reed, another fancied bet from Down Under, was third in 3:57:18.

“It feels great. The people here are amazing. They were cheering on every meter of the course. It was a great experience. They just pushed me through the pain,” said Rolli, who turned pro two years ago and won his first 70.3 in Thailand.

Kahlefeldt and Steffen, meanwhile, slugged it out in the swim and bike stages before Kahlefeldt turned up the heat in the run to win convincingly in 4:16:52.

“I’m very happy that I could come back and win again,” said Kahlefeldt. “It was tough and the whole race was hard since I had to fight it out with Steffen. It’s never easy to beat her.”

Steffen, winner of past races in the country, failed to match Kahlefeldt’s strides midway in the run part and finished in 4:19:28.