Romain Guillaume took the victory at IM Malaysia after a dominating performance. The BMC-Etixx athlete broke away at the start of the bike to finish the race in 8:32:54, breaking both the overall course and the bike record. Jens Petersen-Bach (DEN; 8:36:44) and Roman Deisenhofer (GER; 8:40:45) crossed the line in 2nd and 3rd.
New bike course record
Romain Guillaume toed the line in Malaysia in order to collect some early season points towards Kona 2018. The Frenchman had an excellent swim as he exited the water in 2nd position, just a few seconds shy of the leader. Thanks to a fast transition, Romain jumped on his BMC Timemachine in 1st place to start the bike and control the race. He immediately set a fast pace to open up a gap. After 70k Guillaume had a 3’ lead over Kramer. The BMC-Etixx athlete kept pushing hard and extended his lead to 11’ entering T2. With a time of 4:29:18 Romain set a new bike course record.
On the run, Romains win was never endangered as he ran a steady pace controlling his lead. Romain Guillaume finished the race in a record breaking time of 8:32:54 setting a new course record in Malaysia.
Phenomenal
With an Ironman victory, a new bike course record and a new overall course record, Romain Guillaume couldn't be happier afterwards.
“I’m so pleased to win the race. It was phenomenal. The swim was good and then I tried to break away right after the transition and I succeeded. I had a very special feeling on the bike today. I pushed hard and knew I was extending my lead over the chasers. Once in T2 I noticed I had an 11’ advantage. On the run, I stuck to the plan. Running from aid station to aid station and make sure to drink, eat and cool down. At first my lead dropped back fast, but then I matched the pace of the others. The run was tough though. The last loop of 18k I was in surviving mode. I was counting in my head that the chasers had to run more than 30” per kilometer faster than me to catch me. I knew they were running fast, but in the end I managed to take the win.
Two years ago, I had that same 11’ advantage starting the run, but I blew up on the bike and felt back on the run. But today, I had a 10’ faster bike leg and still managed to run 3h10 on my marathon (4th fastest run split). It’s fantastic to bring home the victory for the team, because this year I had some bad luck during my races. Also, great to collect points for Kona as I obtained almost 2/3 of the total amount of points in order to qualify.”
