❤️🩹 Tayler Reid can take solace from the fact he’s still very much in the Supertri title fight despite a costly late crash in the penultimate round overnight.
The Gisborne 28-year-old was challenging for a maiden race win in the rapid fire league only to lose his front wheel on a slippery roundabout on the first lap of the final bike leg in the Jersey Enduro (three short triathlons back-to-back-to-back with no rest in between).
Fortunately, Reid (Podium Racing) had enough of a buffer after an otherwise great race to hold onto fifth behind Hungarian Csongor Lehmann (Stars and Stripes Racing), Portugal’s Vasco Vilaça (Crown Racing), British debutant Oliver Conway (Brownlee Racing) and Dutchman Mitch Kolkman (Podium Racing).
The result leaves Reid 4th overall in the seasons standings with the October 5 finale in Toulouse to come. An athletes’ two best performances from the three regular season rounds and their performance in the final in Toulouse count, meaning the Tokyo Olympian is in good shape after a pair of 5th placings in Chicago and Jersey.
He trails only American leader John Reed (7th in Jersey), Lehmann and Spaniard Alberto González Garcia – Reed and Garcia being Podium Racing teammates – but will be buoyed by his form and the increased points on offer in Toulouse. Podium also enjoy pole position in the teams’ battle so a decent payday is pending for the Kiwi in a fortnight.
Still, all that future positivity couldn’t mask Reid’s deep frustration in the moment as he summed up his crash-marred performance for the Supertri cameras afterwards.
“I was just so angry at myself,” he said.
“I felt so good today. I had a race last week [19th at WTCS Karlovy Vary] and I just couldn’t push and it was the most frustrating feeling in the world and then today I just couldn’t hurt myself. I kept pushing and I just felt so amazing and that doesn’t come around very often.
“I just got too far ahead of myself thinking about the run on the on the last lap [of the bike] and I didn’t concentrate into you know, the treacherous roundabout that claimed so many bodies today and I became another victim of the roundabout and yeah, I was just so mad at myself.
“[I’m thinking] if I bounce back up… but the boys are pushing so fast. I just couldn’t get myself back into the race. And yeah, um like it’s very different because in Chicago, I was absolutely stoked to get 5th and today I’m heartbroken and I think I could have been in the fight for the podium and um yeah, you know, that’s sport and that what makes it so special. “Um yeah, like a bit bittersweet, you know, like being in the race and you know, I wrote down one of my goals was just to race like I was possessed and that’s how I felt like I raced on the bike and um yep…”
Reid’s day was at least better than partner Nicole van der Kaay whose comeback from a foot injury ended in elimination. The Taupo 29-year-old, transferred into the weekend by Podium Racing, had started strongly but fell back for reasons unseen by the TV cameras on a bike leg and was unable to recover.
Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair and Frenchwoman Léonie Périault made it a Podium Racing one-two in the women’s race with Brit Georgia Taylor-Brown rounding out the actual podium. Lehair (41 points) leads GTB (37) and Périault (28) in the overall standings heading to Toulouse.
