It is 8:00am on Sunday, May 21, 2017 and leaves the long day of walking in Podebrady, CZE.
50km men
The day begins with the most difficult race, that of the 50km, which saw at the start 32 athletes representing 14 countries.
This is, unfortunately, the reality of the fight for 50km !
Of the top 10 athletes in the European list 2017 no one is present at the start.
After Dudince, where everyone of them had set the season best, some preferred other technical choices and hijacked on the shortest race for team decisions, while others were absent while continuing their training programs to London 2017.
In this overall picture stand out with honor, the nationals teams of
- Germany with con Carl Dohmann, Nathaniel Seiler, Karls Junghannss;
- Spain with Francisco Arcilla, Luis Manuel Corchete, Ivan Pajuelo, Benjamin Sanchez;
- Italy with Andrea Agrusti, Michele Antonelli, Teodorico Caporaso, Federico Tontodonati;
- Ukraine with Andriy Hrechkovskyy, Ihor Hlavan, Ivan Banzeruk, Roman Zakalnytskyy
who should, at least on paper, play both for individual and team victories in this event.
Interestingly will also be the Podebrady-Lima distance comparison. The last weekend the 18th Copa Panamericana de Marcha, the biggest sister of our European Cup, finished with that exciting arrival between Claudio Paulino Villanueva (ECU) and Luis Fernando Lopez (COL) where both stopped the clock in 3:51:35.
The race
Temperature around 13°Celsius and partly cloudy sky: ideal for 50km.
- At 10km:
After three laps immediately goes to lead Aleksi Ojala (FIN) who earns thirty meters on the pack leaded by the Italians, Hlavan (UKR) and Brendan Boyce (IRL).
Aleksi Ojala passes at 5km in 23:20, followed by Karl Jungannss (GER) in 23:33 and Federico Tontodonati (ITA) leading the pack in 23:36.
Ojala: 6km in 27:54
They alternate with the guide of the followers group Federico Tontodonati and Ihor Hlavan who have now reached Karl Jungannss (GER).
Ojala: 7km in 32:32
Chasing gropup is composed by:
- three from Italy: Michele Antonelli, Teodorico Caporaso, Federico Tontodonati
- two from Ukraine: Ihor Hlavan e Ivan Banzeruk
- three from Germany: Carl Dohmann, Nathaniel Seiler, Karls Junghannss
- one from Irland: Brendan Boyce (IRL)
Ojala: 7km in 37:13
Aleksi Ojala (FIN) already suffers two red cards for bent knee and just before the 10km is disqualified (the third red card for loss of contact).
Then leads at 10km Ihor Hlavan (UKR) in 46:51 together with assieme a Federico Tontodonati (ITA) e Brendan Boyce (IRL).
Gli inseguitori tra i 7km e 8km
- From 10km to 20km:
In the head group they stayed at 11km (51:29):
- one from Italy: Federico Tontodonati
- two from Ukrain: Ihor Hlavan and Ivan Banzeruk
- three from Germany: Carl Dohmann, Nathaniel Seiler, Karls Junghannss
- one from Ireland: Brendan Boyce (IRL)
The other two Italians, Michele Antonelli, Theodorico Caporaso follow at twenty meters charged by one red card for bent knee both.
In the meantine Ato Ibanez (SWE) was DE'ed at 11km while the same fate underlies Miklos Srp (HUN) at 12km.
At 15 km Teodorico Caporaso reaches the leaders and starts immediately (1:10:05) earning ten meters.
Caporaso: 16km in 1:14:20, and the advantage increases to about 50m; ai 17km passes in 1:19:16 and the advantage is of 20"
To the followers group has now been added: Miche Antonelli (ITA), Damien Molmy (FRA) and Maryan Zakolnytskyy (UKR).
Caporaso: at 18km passes in 1:23:50 with a 30" and at 19km in 1:28:23 (+41")
Then leads to the 20km Teodorico Caporaso (ITA) in 1:32:52, followed by Brendan Boyce (IRL) at 54" and the others of the group at the 56".
Teodorico Caporaso verso i 20km
- From 20km to 30km:
Continue Teodorico Caporaso with the following splits:
At 21km in 1:37:24 with an advantage of 1:03
At 22km in 1:41:55 with an advantage of 1:11
At 23km in 1:46:27 with an advantage of 1:12
At 24km in 1:50:59 with an advantage of 1:30 on chasing group now without Ihor Hlavan.
At 25km in 1:55:29 with an advantage of 1:34 on chasing group leaded by Damien Molmy (FRA).
At 28km in 2:09:09 with an advantage of 1:38 on chasing group leaded by Federico Tontodonati (ITA), Ivan Banzeruk (UKR), Brendan Boyce (IRL) and Karl Jungannss (GER) which have taken a slight advantage over others.
- From 30km to 40km:
Continue Teodorico Caporaso with the following steps:
At 32km in 2:27:12 with an advantage of 1:36 over Federico Tontodonati (ITA), Ivan Banzeruk (UKR), Brendan Boyce (IRL) and Karl Jungannss (GER)
Teodorico Caporaso's head continues his leading, though now his advantage is tapering as Ivan Banzeruk is approaching.
At 37km they pass in the order:
- Teodorico Caporaso (ITA) in 2:50:06
- Ivan Banzeruk (UKR) at 27" in 2:50:33
- Brendan Boyce (IRL) at 1:03 in 2:51:09
- Federico Tontodonati (ITA) and Karl Jungannss (GER) at 1:10 in 2:51:16
But during the 38km Ivan Banzeruk reaches Teodorico Caporaso, who appears in crisis, and leads in 2:54:49 with 2" of advantage.
Ai 39km: Banzeruk in 2:59:10, Caporaso a 22" e Boyce a 55".
At 40km the situation is this:
- Ivan Banzeruk (UKR) at 3:03:34
- Teodorico Caporaso (ITA) to 37"
- Brendan Boyce (IRL) at 1:00
- Ihor Hlavan (UKR) made a wonderful comeback at 1:02
- Michele Antonelli (ITA) at 1:22
- Federico Tontodonati (ITA) at 1:26
Ai 48km:
- Ivan Banzeruk (UKR) in 3:39:20
- Ihor Hlavan (UKR) 3:35:50 a 30"
- Michele Antonelli (ITA) a 55"
- Brendan Boyce (IRL) a 1:22
- Teodorico Caporaso (ITA) a 2:38
- last 10km
Maryan Zakolnytskyy (UKR) jois to Federico Totononati at 42km.
Ai 45km positions are:
- Ivan Banzeruk (UKR) in 3:25:01
- Ihor Hlavan (UKR) at 1:00
- Michele Antonelli (ITA) at 1:18 In a splendid recovery and chasing Ihor Hlavan
- Brendan Boyce (IRL) at 1:24
- Teodorico Caporaso (ITA) a7 1:36
- Maryan Zakolnytskyy (UKR) a7 1:45
Ivan Banzeruk (UKR) wins 50km in 3:48:154
Second place for teammate Ihor Hlavan (UKR) in 3:48:38
Third place with the new personal best to Michele Antonelli (ITA) in 3:49:07 (previous of 3:53:08 obtained in Andernach, GER on October 8, 2016), author of a wonderful race.
Fourth Brendan Boyce (IRL) in 3:49:49 at 1:34
Fifth Teodorico Caporaso (ITA) in 3:52:14 at 3:59
Sixth Maryan Zakolnytskyy (UKR) in 3:53:50 at 5.35 delivering the 50km European Cup to Ukraine.
Team standings
1.- Ukraine: points 8
2.- Italy: points 16
3.- Spain: points 28
Full official results of all events in the section Results or download directly from this link: click here
Photo album (by Giancarlo Colombo for Fidal): click here