Greek triathlon PHENOM Panagiotis Bitados stars AGAIN in dominant Challenge Sanremo win

On a busy weekend, not surprisingly most eyes were elsewhere on events including the Women’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice and the Europe Triathlon Championship in Vichy.

As well as those two races in France, Italy was also home to some professional middle-distance racing. Great Britain’s Sam Dickinson won at IRONMAN 70.3 Emilia-Romagna, and there was also more action at the third edition of Challenge Sanremo, which we round up here.

Bitados continues to impress

The Men’s winner, Panagiotis Bitados, continues to impress over the distance. The winner at Challenge Walchsee and the IRONMAN 70.3 European Championship (Tallinn) already this season, this was another domination. He ultimately took the tape with a winning margin of almost seven minutes. That result saw him jump 17 places in the latest PTO World Rankings, where he is now 27th. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is in contention for a T100 wildcard, sooner or later.

While Bitados was almost a gun-to-tape winner, the women’s race was a very different affair. Austria’s Therese Feuersinger is consistently one of the fastest swimmers in WTCS racing, and duly opened up a three and half minute lead over Rebecca Robisch over the opening discipline. All on nine (!) minutes back at this stage, Daniele Kleiser cut back a couple of minutes during the bike, before putting together a stunning run and take her first Challenge Family victory.

Challenge Sanremo Results 2024

Sunday 22 September 2024 – 1.9km / 82km / 21.1km

PRO Women

1. Daniela Kleiser (GER) – 4:37:41

2. Therese Feuersinger (AUT) – 4:42:40

3. Rebecca Robisch (GER) – 4:44:07

PRO Men

1. Panagiotis Bitados (GRE) – 3:54:37

2. Jonas Schomburg (GER) – 4:01:28

3. Jannik Stoll (GER) – 4:06:23

Challenge Sanremo 2024 In Pictures

A regular on these pages, photographer José Luis Hourcade (www.joseluishourcade.com) was on hand to capture the race in pictures.

More frequently seen leading out of T2 in WTCS races, Germany’s Jonas Schomburg was in middle-distance action in Italy

Panagiotis Bitados (GRE) was looking to extend his unbeaten streak in 2024

Nine minutes down after the swim, the day was far from done for Daniela Kleiser (#47) given her running ability

The age-group field gets ready

The Pro Men get their race started

And the Pro women

Swim exit and into T1

Early stages of the bike in the Coastal Park

It didn’t take long for Bitados to take control of the race

Out on the bike course

There are several tunnels on the bike route

Super swimmer Therese Feuersinger would also lead the entire bike leg

Rebecca Robisch was three and half minutes behind Therese after the opening swim

Renowned for her running, Kleiser had a lot of time to make up – and started that with the fastest bike split

Schomburg was alone in second after Bitados rode away early

The recent IRONMAN 70.3 European Champion started the run with a huge lead

Would a seven minute advantage over the fast-running Daniela Kleiser be enough for Therese Feuersinger?

Kleiser quickly started to make huge gains in her move towards the front of the race

Robisch gained time on Feuersinger, but it was Daniela Kleiser burning up the run course

Panagiotis Bitadas was unchallenged, finishing with a huge winning margin

A 1:15:48 saw Kleiser take the tape

Photo Credit: José Luis Hourcade

Written by

John Levison

TRI247’s Chief Correspondent, John has been involved in triathlon for well over 30 years, 15 of those writing on these pages, whilst he can also be found commentating for events across the UK.

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