The men’s race was a massive spread of talent from all over the world. Holten has a great reputation and at 31 years, the organisers have managed to find that little something that makes this small town come alive. A big city race in a small town; the perfect equation.

The line-up of 64 men to battle for medals, points and prize-money over the sprint distance was always going to be high-octane. A clean start and then, just 8:31 later, it was Russian, Denis Vasiliev who hit the timing mat first. Ryan Sissons NZL was just behind him. The run to T1 took the leading bunch of 8 past cheering crowds and they could all see that less than 10 seconds behind the swim leaders was the cycling powerhouse, Kristian Blummenfelt NOR. Would he, with a couple of brave others, blow the field apart on the notorious Holterberg ?

This leading group worked hard for the initial 5k on the bike but their lead after the swim was not big enough and soon enough there was a huge peloton, much to the delight of the crowds.

If you go to Holten there are paths that can take you up to the summit of Holterberg where the atmosphere was as electric as any Tour de France climb. Coming in to T2 it was the bulk of the men’s field. So, 5k of running would decide who would get the medals, points and prize-money.

The crowds were lining the streets now and the noise was deafening as the men put on a great show with the run. It was Aurélien Lebrun FRA who took off with the greatest speed from T2.

Sissons fought hard to keep up with him and it was these two who appeared to be pulling away. Would Lebrun hold off the Kiwi? Would Sissons have that killer kick that would take him past the Frenchman?

With the fastest run of the night it was Lebrun who took gold. “I set off pretty fast on the run and managed to get the lead pretty quickly. But the thing is I couldn’t shake off Ryan Sissons and the gap stayed the same so I had to fight all the way to avoid a sprint finish.”

Sissons had enough to hold the silver and behind them it was Burgas winner, Brice Daubord FRA who held onto a well-deserved bronze.

Sissons later said, “2nd today at ETU Holten Premium Cup over a shorter distance due to extreme heat. Happy to be getting back to my normal self. Thanks to everyone for support!”

For the Norwegian, Blummenfelt, it was a pretty bad day at the office, “Not quite my day here in Holten. Swam very well, and out on the bike the top 5. Was in very good shape and made sure that it was run hard. With 4 km left of the bike crashed I and lost much time. Fortunately only abrasions. Managed to catch up with a section on the run, but was out of the fight for the top spot.”

The athletes were hot. The crowds were warmed up and now, for the thousands of supporters of Dutch triathlon, it was their finale; the Women’s Elite; tonight, the crowd knew, it was truly going to be “Holten, where the champions meet”

All eyes would be on Rachel Klamer NLD. With the Baku silver and three previous victories on this course, she was clearly the race favourite. Would she lead from the start; would this be a tactical race for the Elite; would someone come to the party and ignore tactics and go for it?

As they stood on the start line some must surely have been thinking about last weekend when the race favourite in Kyiv crashed out.

It was indeed Klamer who led the swim, with Kimberley Bell GBR, Kelly-Ann Perkins AUS and Anastasia Abrosimova RUS on her feet. To T1 and way back was Italian athlete Sara Dossena. We had highlighted this athlete in the preview as she has raced this year at Standard Distance, Middle Distance and Duathlon Standard Distance and each time taken home a silver medal. To be mix the distances like this shows great depth. Would she be able to salvage anything from this race after her swim?

Well, the women grouped together and pretty soon with nobody wanting or daring to make a break it was a large group of women hitting Holterberg on the 20k bike. Before the race, Klamer had said that the Sprint Distance was not really suited to her racing style and perhaps the rest thought they could outsprint her on the hot 5k run.

A crash after the climb split the group into two and this left Klamer to lead into T2 accompanied by Kiwis Rebecca Clarke and Deborah Lynch, Mathilde Gautier FRA and Britain’s Natalie Milne who was having the race of her life.

T2 came and went in the blink of an eye and Klamer set off trying to blast away any opposition. She pushed the first half of the run so hard that she had established a minute’s lead already.

Was it the crowds, the home crowds who cheered her every step or is simply that this young lady has come to this race in the best condition imaginable?

Her run through the last 2.5k was done with the cheers ringing in her ears.

As she entered the town centre the noise levels rose, the cheers got louder and louder and then, it happened … the big, big smile that the crowds love so much came to Klamer’s face and the finish line was in sight.

Well-deserved gold went to Holten’s favourite athlete. Her fourth win has really established her “Royal” status. Behind her Dossena was amazing the crowds with her incredible pace. Athlete after athlete was left behind as she posted the fastest run of the day but all that work was not good enough to take her past the Australian Perkins who took silver. Dossena had to settle for bronze.

After the race, Klamer delighted the crowds with her smiles. “Well, it was great again to race in Holten and the crowd was amazing! It is always amazing, but this year it was even better. It was really busy (especially on the run course) and at the prize-giving. When I got out of the water, the field didn't spread out so much. On the bike the girls didn't seem to want to put too much effort in it, so we ended up riding in a big pack. Unfortunately there was a crash on the top of the 'Holterberg', where the group got split in two. We (front group of 5/6) stayed away and started to work together. I had a fast T2 and didn't want to take the risk to get passed by athletes, so started out with a fast 2,5km. After about 3km I heard I had a gap of 1 min. It was hard to believe, but decided to take it easier and enjoy the 'home' crowd!”

The medals were presented; the anthems were sung and then it was time to party.

Holten, as we know, is not a major city. Holten is described as a small town with about 10,000 inhabitants. Whatever it is that the organisers have done to create this town into the “must-race” event of the calendar, they deserve the biggest credit. Great race. Great town. Great atmosphere.

Once again - we are indebted to the LOC for the excellent photos and to Christie Brouwer for the images.