With the goal set on the Championship Finals in Pontevedra in just two weeks, a top level field of play is ready to grab some more Olympic qualification points this Saturday in Valencia. The Spanish Mediterranean city is ready for a new edition of the World Triathlon Cup, that will see athletes compete over a Standard distance course -1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run- that promises to be as fast and furious as the Formula 1 cars that used to race on these same streets of Valencia.
The Spanish Army is bringing a large and strong delegation to Valencia, ready to use the advantage that racing on home soil brings to athletes. And leading the 11-men Spanish team on the day will be Antonio Serrat Seoane, ready to fight for the first podium of his season. After a brilliant 2022 that saw him stepping up on the podium of a World Triathlon Championship Series for the first time, the Spaniard has not found yet the sparkle this year, and is looking to improve his fourth place that he got in Valencia just one year ago.
Team Spain will be trying their best to get a few of their men on the podium at home, with David Castro Fajardo, David Cantero and Genis Grau also lining up, all of them consistently fast when it comes to a run race, which is a likely scenario in Valencia this weekend. David Castro has already a good collection of World Cup victories under his belt (four, so far), and will be dangerous if the race is decided in the last few meters.
Just back from a successful weekend of racing in China will be Lasse Nygaard Priester (GER), who flew to Valencia straight from Weihai, where he finished in third place. A specialist on super sprint distances -he has performed incredibly well in the Mixed Relay format with Team Germany- he proved in Karlovy Vary in 2021 that he also has the strength to fight for the podium over Standard distance races.
The Marina in Valencia will be a great scenario for one of the best swimmers in the circuit, Mark Devay (HUN), to try to finally land on a podium this season, which has been eluding him even though he is consistently first out of the water and in the lead group on the bike on most of the races.
Great bikers like Casper Stornes (NOR), Paul Georgenthum (FRA), Valentin Morlec (FRA) or Connor Bentley (GBR) will try their best to try to break away and avoid a big pack heading to the run together. But if that is finally the case, get ready to watch an incredible action day in Valencia.
The race gets underway on Saturday at 18.15h CET and you can watch it on TriathlonLIVE.tv.
Check out the start lists here.