PTO European Open, Ibiza | Beyond Human: The Series | Ep 4

And here in the Mediterranean, the race to be crowned the King and the Queen of the PTO European Open is nothing short of box office. So many big names, so many big storylines, and so many potential champions. Hold your breath, the beat is about to drop on Triathlons Ibiza-Passo. It's the first big race of the season. It's a monster. Welcome, gents. As we said, this is the shop that people want. This is the start of the season. People have ambitions. The Tour Opener. Perhaps all of the athletes, the European Open is going to be their first A-list race of the calendar. So if you think the last time they actually raced in Anger, for many of them it was last October. Well, now in May, that's over half a year. Think how many months of preparation that is, going in, just for the one race. The big story, of course. Jan, Ali, Christian, the last three Olympic champions racing for the first time together. We are here. It's race day. And it's showtime. A race I've been looking forward for, yeah, maybe like 10 years. He was like the top of the sport when I was figuring out what triathlon was all about. It's unique in the sport. We all want to push each other to the best and get the most out of each other. Victory on Saturday would mean everything to me. It's like the race I've been training for throughout the past five months. Thinking about it every day. I feel like I have something to prove. When you look at my resume, I don't have the titles or the wins as the big guys here. I feel like I have something to prove. When you look at my resume, I don't have the titles or the wins as the big guys here. My feet are firmly on the ground. I had an incredible 2022 season, but it takes a lot to win those races. I mean, there's so many women that are performing at a super high level at the moment. Annie Haug is looking phenomenal. She's won two races already this season. She's running like fire. So I definitely don't want to start the run with her. My goal for Ibiza is just to get on the limit of what I can do. My goal for Ibiza is just to get on the limit of my performance. How much motivation you have to get up, turn out every day when it's not always going to be feeling great. Just that relentless consistency. And that will always be the number one tip that you hear from people. It's not about crazy sessions, although they'll do that too. It's when they talk to you, the hardest thing is being consistent. Day in, day out. And to do that for month on month on month in the lead up to the European Open. Whoever's done that the best has got the best chance. We have three of the greatest athletes of all time in the same race. For a lot of the athletes who are maybe flying a little bit more under the radar, they can prepare as they want and really just try and come in and take it away from those athletes that we're all focusing on. Athletes, take your positions. You are now in the hands of the starter. It's finally time, you know, it's been a race that we've been waiting for. Racing here for the first European Tour, ever the first race of the PTO Tour. There's a better swim standard here than maybe we've seen in the last few PTO Opens. We have Alistair Brownlee here, Jan Frodeno, they really want to open up this swim. A lot of people talking a big game, but there's not many people delivering big. I guess the aim is a little bit of team tactics there between them, is to try and put more time into Christian Blumenfeld. I couldn't really ask for any bigger battles here, racing those two guys. They're coming out the water. The different decades, like you have his decade from 2008 until like 2019. Alistair in between there now, it's my turn. You know, it's been a rocky road the last few years in terms of injury and those kind of things, but it's definitely done no weakening of the fire. Like I am pumped to be here and I am keen to race and I am looking forward to a great battle and I just hope my body shows up on the day the way I expect it to. There we go, there's Matt Newman as well, Jan Frodeno is already heading out. Blumenfeld there, a minute down. Steve Ditlev at a minute 10, that's not a bad swim for him. We're on Matt Newman there, I mean he's had a really good year, he had a great swim and he's put himself in a great position. Now the interesting note about Jan Frodeno in this race was that he was actually a wild card just because of his absence. They were considered out of who could really add something special to the competition and if anyone can add a little something to this competition, it is Jan Frodeno and Alistair Brownlee. So Alistair Brownlee leading. There, that's Matt Newman, so still comfortably in the front group and Matt Newman's not someone that's been talked about much. He's come into the race ranked third in this race, he had a fantastic year last year and people weren't sure whether he could mix it up with the top guys in this level of field, but at the moment he's comfortably in that front group. Magnus Ditlev is on the move, just slowly starting to pass that front group. So excited about the women's race too, there is such a strong field today but we've been taking it with the men so far. So many of the top ten are here, I think it's eight out of the top ten, one of the best fields assembled at this distance. I'm someone who does love to race and I'm hoping that we're going to see something good that's going to set the year off well. You know when the gun goes off it's going to be full gas. I need to start believing that I belong with the top girls and I think mentally that's part of the game too, making sure that no matter where I am physically, my head's in the game too and I believe that I can be competitive. The women's race is just about to get going and we are racing. Analysts and fans have been celebrating this line-up as maybe the best ever and now the women and the men are on the course. It's all go, go, go. It's got choppy out there, I've just noticed that as Lucy Charles-Barclay rounded that buoy, you could see the waves out there. Barclay surfing into the beach as we see her exit the water. Annie Howe got 1.11 down. But now she's onto the bike and just doing what Lucy Charles-Barclay does and that's really pushing the pace and those athletes behind, they're going to have to work very hard to get to her. And here we see they're back to the men. We've got Kyle Smith, still that group, Kyle Smith, Alyssa Brownlee, Max Newman and Magnus Dittlev. T2 now for the men. This is going to be very interesting indeed. We're talking transition, who gets it down the smoothest? 40 seconds ahead of the chase group. There's Dittlev there just putting his bike in, Kyle Smith heading out. There's Daniel Beckerguard. They've lost a lot of time. What's going to be a challenge is kind of just to let go of the normal way we think we have to race on impulses, on instinct, not on numbers or pacing strategies or whatever. Look at that, 20 seconds now those two have put into Newman. That's Max Newman there, he's in second position. He's having a great race. He came in ranked really high, but I think a lot of people have ridden more. But there's Christian Blummenfelt coming round. So he's managed to drop Jan Frodeno. He has taken the lead. Yeah, he's made the move. So Max Newman still leading. We're over halfway through the run now. Christian Blummenfelt is on the chase, isn't he? He's got to make up that time to Max Newman. He's running out of time to do it though, that 39 seconds. For a guy like Max Newman, I'm sure you've got a superstar in Christian Blummenfelt running you down. Like again, does your heart skip a beat? I think he's picked up the pace here. He's looking really strong at this finish. It's an outstanding run for Max Newman. Ibiza rocks for Max Newman. A wonderful day out. It looks like we have a new star in the making. You can see the emotion on his face when he came across that line. Pure joy. That's what you live for. Yeah, I can't wait to see how this run plays out. Gentle, Annie Haug, they're moving forward. They're in the mix. They're not too far away from that front. She hasn't seen anyone the whole day. She's only seen the athletes on the turnarounds, but they've always been over a minute behind her. It's been a lonely ride. That's Paula Findlay, Ashley Gentle. They're racking near each other, being kind of two of the top-ranked athletes. Biggest challenges there to Lucy Charles-Barkley. Ashley Gentle, just coming off winning the last two PTO Opens. Annie Haug, she's going in in ninth position, but only two minutes down. Her runs have been devastating this year. I don't know why, but running comes a bit naturally to me. Time flies by and I just enjoy it. I believe that Annie Haug has run herself into third place. She's been out there all day, and then you just have a target on your back the whole run. Goals you can achieve easily don't have the same values like races where you really have to dig in really, really deep. Then a victory is so much better. Germany's Annie Haug marches forward into the lead. There she goes. And she does surge. Straight into second. Here we go. She makes that corner. It has been one of the most celebrated fields in women's triathlon. But Annie Haug has run through to win the PTO European Tour race. What a run. Just what a performance. Absolutely incredible. Just demolished the field on the run. I mean, there's people running from behind, but she just got herself in the perfect position that just executed that amazing run. Brilliant stuff. It's not that pressure to win. It's more an eager. And there's a huge difference when you're standing on the start line. The IPFA race, I thought I was in better shape than I showed on race day. I need to put it together. I want to win one of these races this year. Will you be the one drinking out of the Stein at the finish line? I hope I'll be the one drinking out of the Stein.