IT came down to a final sprint to the tape, but Bathurst triathlon star Tamsyn Moana-Veale had the speed when it mattered to pick up the first Bundesliga win of her career on Saturday.
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She out-sprinted Hungarian Zsófia Kovács – a woman who competed at the Rio Olympic Games – to take the honours.
“Got it. Sprint finish ... to claim my first Bundesliga win,” Moana-Veale said.
“This year I'm focusing on World Cup racing, with some French Grand Prix and Bundesliga races as well as building towards WTS racing and aiming for Tokyo 2020 under the guidance of Danielle Stefano.”
A five-round series staged in Germany, this year’s Triathlon Bundesliga opener was staged in Kraichgau.
Moana-Veale headed into the race in good touch, having placed second and seventh at two Chengdu World Cup events and seventh in the Astana World Cup round in May.
Competing for Schwalbe Team Krefelder KK, Moana-Veale was one of 53 women to tackle the 750 metres swim, 20km cycle and 5km run event staged by the German Triathlon League.
Moana-Veale was second out of the water the opening swim leg in Lake Hardt, only four seconds behind Hungarian Dorka Putnoczki thanks to a nine minutes, 36 seconds split.
She formed a group of nine riders who led the way through the cycle – clocking a 28:23 effort – but it was the run leg in which she really shone.
Pushing the pace, she worked her way to the front of the field alongside three other competitors - Kovács, Dutch triathlete Rachel Klamer and France’s Emmie Charayron.
A few hundred yards from the finish, Moana-Veale surged once more.
Only Kovács managed to go with her as she accelerated, the pair racing shoulder-to-shoulder to the tape.
But it was Moana-Veale who got there first as she clocked the fastest run split of any competitor, covering the 5km in 16:22.
Her final time was 55.42, mere hundredths of a second separating her from Kovács.
Moana-Veale’s strong run came after she also clocked the quickest split for the 2.5km run when placing seventh in the May 6 World Cup race at Chengdu – an 8:24.
That was her main positive from that Chinese event after a difficult cycle leg.
“Frustratingly close to the breakaway out of the swim left me [working] hard in no man’s land for most of the bike until swallowed up by the main pack in the final two kilometres. Pleased to back that up with equal fastest run of the day. Leaving China with some frustrations, but a lot of positives,” Moana-Veale said.
