It’s the
final countdown – Rubén Ruzafa versus Conrad Stolz. The two giants of the
triathlon world recently battled it out in the ITU Cross Triathlon in Holland.
They are soon to meet again in Maui, when they both compete for the sought
after title of XTERRA World Champion 2013.
Here is Rubén’s
account of the crucial moment he realized Caveman was to slip away…
As the newly crowned XTERRA Spain
champion, how did it feel to race against XTERRA legend, Conrad Stolz in the
recent ITU Cross Triathlon?
It was great! It´s an honour to share the podium with a legend like Conrad Stolz. It was a big battle between us to win the race! His bike was incredible!
We understand that you had some misfortune
during the race – a 30 second penalty and a bike crash. Do you feel you could
have won the race if things were to be running according to plan for you?
Yes, I had two penalties
of fifteen seconds, one per transition; in T1 (the wetsuit was out of the box),
and in T2, the shoes were out the box. The mistake was due to the different
rules between XTERRA and the ITU Cross Triathlon regulations - I need to write these
rules in my head!!
But I believe I could
have won the race, because I finished only fourteen seconds behind Conrad and
the total time lost due to the penalties was thirty seconds. Anyway the maths doesn’t
always work. Now it's impossible to say,
this is what happened and that's it.
And now for the exciting part -you
will be up against Conrad again in October when racing XTERRA World
Championships in Maui? Are you feeling ready for the challenge?
Yes
of course I am ready! I am going to try to arrive to Maui in the best physical
condition possible. This year XTERRA World Championships will be very
interesting (with Javier Goméz as the defending champion)! This is enough
reason to make me want to give it my best and go for the title.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Rubén will
soon start his specific training plan for the XTERRA World Championship (27th
October). His next major goal will be the XTERRA USA Championship, which takes
place in Utah a month before the World Championships. The Spaniard will do some
altitude training in Sierra Nevada (Granada, Spain) in order to get used to the
feeling of exercising intensively with lack of oxygen. His stay at altitude will be preceded by the
Olympic National Championship which will be followed by the Cross Triathlon
Spanish Championship. Rubén does not expect to be in his best shape for the
Triathlon Cross, although a clear favourite to take the title.
XTERRA
Spain supports Rubén in his quest to win the title.
We’ll be watching you!
This is XTERRA
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