💪 Hayden Wilde is a perfect four from four on the T100 circuit but if history has taught him anything, it’s not to get ahead of himself.
The Andorra-based 28-year-old made short work of his much-vaunted showdown with Jelle Geens at Oropesa Del Mar overnight, pulling away from the Belgian on the run to win by a whopping 2mins 25sec.
It means Wilde has won every T100 race he’s started: Singapore, London, French Riviera and now Spain. Not only has he won comfortably at every stop – his 22sec win over Geens in Frejus on the Côte d’Azur was the only victory margin sub a minute or more – the three wins since London have come post a training ride in Tokyo on May 4 crash that looked season ending.
An athletes best four performances plus the grand final count so Wilde can do no more to improve his lot heading into the Dec. 11-13 ‘Race to Qatar’ finale in Doha.
That won’t stop the Kiwi talisman from lining up in Wollongong on Oct. 18 or Dubai on Nov. 16, nor has it given him a false sense of superiority. As far as the outcome of the season at least.
“It’s super nice, you know,” Wilde said of his comfortable lead atop the T100 standings.
“I’ve come out to say I really want to win every race so I’ll be pushing until Qatar and, as I said, the season isn’t over until Qatar.
“I’ve been in this position many times and I’ve fallen short, so I’ve just [GOT TO] give it [MY] all to keep the pressure on and hopefully do well in Qatar to bring it home.”
Wilde’s swim, and lack of mobility in his left shoulder, has been an issue at WTCS level but is less of a concern over the longer distances. That said, he’ll have been pleased with his effort in Oropesa, taking advantage of shallows on the Aussie exit in the first lap and again into transition to make up places.
He admitted to finding the 80km bike tough and was made to sweat by Geens’ super quick getaway in T2, good for an 18 second gap.
“Jelle should go for a Guinness World Record of putting socks on because I was right beside him [in T2] and I was like ‘Wow, he’s already gone’ and I’ve got one sock on already,” Wilde said.
“So he put 15 seconds [18 according to the TV footage] onto me at the start of the run and I just made sure I was relaxed and I slowly caught up to him which was nice. Once I caught up to him I could see it turn into a bit of a tactical race. Around lap four I decided to put the afterburners on just to see how he was feeling and yeah, I was able to drop him. I just kept the pace there.”
It transpired Geens had crashed on the bike but even still, Wilde’s 55:58 run split for the 18km was irrepressible.
“It was one of the first times we have run off the bike together so it was super interesting,” Wilde said of the increasingly focused rivalry with Geens.
“Obviously when you go out there you’re a little bit stressed out because he’s already got a big lead on you and he’s one of the best runners in the sport at this distance. I was a little bit nervous, but I made sure not to go out too hard and just control myself and race smart, get ice on, get water on the face, on the body, and do what I can do to keep the body cool and race my own race. Hopefully that’s enough to get myself back to the front.”
And that swim, Hayden?
“Honestly, you know, I always take a risk. I think Rico [Bogen] actually joined me with the risk today – no swim skin – and it paid off again today. I was right off the back of the front group and then I was out around third place and could get into the rhythm.
“It was probably one of the hardest bikes I’ve done this season, whether it was my legs or whether it was the pace. I couldn’t go with [Frenchman Mathis] Margirier at the end. For 50km it was on and then it kinda like, eased up a little bit, and you can gather yourself.
“But I was pushing pretty hard on the bike just to keep with him, and I was hoping the legs would turn up on the run. Definitely a hard day out, especially when the blue sky comes out and the Spanish sun starts to beat down on you.”
It was another tough day for Kyle Smith who was visibly upset after coping a drafting penalty and eventually DNF’d.
There was much better news for the other Kiwi in Oropesa with Hannah Berry (pictured above) claiming 6th in the women’s race won by Brit Lucy Charles-Barclay in a British sweep with Kate Waugh and Jessica Learmouth.
It was the Mount Maunganui 34-year-old’s fourth successive top 10 and sees her up to 8th in the season standings in her thus far thoroughly impressive debut T100 season.
The top 10 after Doha earn full contracts for 2026.
Full T100 Oropesa results here.
