When France’s Vincent Luis seized the finish line tape in WTS Hamburg, it was a long time coming. 2015 was a blow up year for Luis. He started out the season by coming in second in WTS Abu Dhabi and then continued that streak when he podiumed in his next two races (WTS Cape Town and WTS London).

Hamburg saw a tight battle between the young Frenchman and top Spaniard Javier Gomez Noya on the sprint-distance course. Competing stride-by-stride up until the final 300 metres, Luis finally launched past Gomez in order to gain his first WTS title.

.@vincentluistri wins #WTSHamburg, @Jgomeznoya gets 2nd, @mariomola 3rd. What a race! pic.twitter.com/iXyp4GDFgz

— TriathlonHamburg (@WTSHamburg) July 18, 2015

But not only was claiming a first WTS victory a huge deal for Luis, it was also a huge deal for his nation. Since the beginning of the Series in 2009, France has not had an elite earn a WTS title in a race…until now!

Première victoire en WTS… Merci Hambourg pour la course incroyable. Et merci @jgomeznoya pour la bataille First WTS victory… Thank you Hamburg for the amazing race. And thank you @jgomeznoya for the battle.

A photo posted by Vince (@vincentluistri) on Jul 18, 2015 at 10:19pm PDT