Blummenfelt Lays Down Gauntlet To Luis With Semi-Final Dominance

Kristian Blummenfelt laid down the gauntlet to Vincent Luis after storming Group B in his Semi-Final at Super League Malta.

The Norwegian powerhouse produced some of the best biking of the day to fire his way to victory and the Short Chute on Sunday.

Luis’ dominance continued as he was a very comfortable winner in Group A.

Junior qualifier Nicolo Strada led out of the first swim and celebrated his moment in the sun before being eliminated later in the race.

After that it was the Luis show as he quickly went to the front and never looked back in cruising to victory.

The battle was on behind him as Hayden Wilde produced a remarkable display.

Wilde, with bad road rash down his right side and a cut up face after coming off his bike in training 24 hours previously, was involved in another crash, this time with Simon Henseleit and Ollie Turner.

The New Zealander recovered remarkably and managed to secure a second place finish with Tyler Mislawchuk coming in third.

Arguably the biggest performance of the Semi-Final was Vasco Vilaca who surprised by finishing fourth while Gustav Iden grabbed the other automatic qualification spot in fifth.

Blummenfelt produced a stunning display powered by his stellar bike form to take out Group B.

The Norwegian was part of a big pack that came out of the first swim and joined together on the bike at full gas as they pushed each other on.

Blummenfelt dug deep and made a break during the first bike but lost his advantage after jumping into the water for a second time.

However, he produced a repeat performance on two wheels to get a lead which he then held with a strong run.

Marten Van Riel ran himself into second with Pierre Le Corre third. South African duo Richard Murray and Henri Schoeman produced strong displays after both recovering from illnesses to take the other two automatic qualification positions for the Final.

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