Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand took a big step towards retaining her world title when she again won in front of home fans at the first edition of WTCS French Riviera.
The French superstar was right in the mix throughout – at the front of the swim, helping drive the bike and then winning a fantastic duel with Jeanne Lehair (LUX) on the run.
The victory took her to the top of the WTCS standings and was her second of the season after Alghero.
There was more for home fans to cheer too as Leonie Periault and Emma Lombardi took third and fourth, with 2023 world champion Beth Potter (GBR) in fifth.
Here’s how the race unfolded…
Swim – Lively start
The sea swim saw things strung out from the off and the three to instigate it were Maya Kingma (NED), Beaugrand and Summer Rappaport (USA).
All took turns at the front and while the gaps were relatively small, it was clear some of the strongest cyclists were near the head of affairs, increasing the chance of a breakaway on the bike as we saw in the men’s race earlier in the day.
It was Rappaport out of the water first but a slow transition would see her miss out on the front group.
Meanwhile Potter had a bit of work to do 15 seconds down in 18th.
Bike – Kingma animates the race
There was indeed some serious firepower in what was a front pack of 14 on the bike, with five laps to come.
Periault was the biggest name to miss out and she was leading the chasers.
Meanwhile up front Kingma – now a pro cyclist as well as a pro triathlete – tried to really stretch it out and Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal (MEX) was the first to get shelled out of the back.
So along with Kingma and Beaugrand also in that front 13 were Lehair, Lombardi, four Brits in Beth Potter, Liv Mathias, Jess Fullagar and Sian Rainsley, German trio Lisa Tertsch, Annika Koch and Nina Eim, plus Taylor Spivey (USA) and Desirae Ridenour (CAN).
There were 22 seconds back to the chase pack and a third group, being driven by Cathia Schär (SUI), was closing on them.
Meanwhile news came through that Fullagar had been handed a 10-second penalty from T1 for leaving equipment outside the box.
The two chase groups joined up in behind and the gap to the leaders was coming down – what had been 22 seconds was now 13 after the third lap.
It was obvious the front group wasn’t working as well together now and sure enough it all came together quickly on the fourth lap.
That meant a massive group into transition so no wonder there were a few anxious moments, including Lombardi and Fullagar almost colliding.
Run – Duel in the sun
Onto the run and on the first of three 1.66km loops it was Lehair who led it out from French trio Beaugrand, Lombardi and Periault.
Potter meanwhile was six seconds behind in fifth, just ahead of Eim and Spivey.
Meanwhile it was Lehair, a recent winner at Supertri Chicago, who was putting pressure on the front group and Periault was first to drop off the pace.
Beaugrand was still looking relatively comfortable in second but Lombardi was struggling to stay with them.
Starting the final lap and Lehair and Beaugrand were clear, with Lombardi and Periault seemingly battling for third as none of the others were getting in the mix.
The gaps continued to go out but not between the front two who were neck-and-neck.
Beaugrand was looking super smooth and that impression was confirmed when the Olympic champion accelerated clear approaching the blue carpet to settle the issue.
Cassandre Beaugrand wins WTCS French Riviera 2025 [Photo credit: World Triathlon]
Huge credit to Lehair for throwing everything at her though and she took a fine second, with Periault pipping Lombardi in the sprint for third while Potter was best of the rest in fifth.
WTCS French Riviera 2025 results
Sunday 31 August 2025 – 750m / 20km / 5km
Elite Women
PositionNameNationalityOverall timeSwim timeBike timeRun time1Cassandre BeaugrandFRA00:56:4300:10:0800:29:4000:15:192Jeanne LehairLUX00:56:4900:10:1000:29:4100:15:243Leonie PeriaultFRA00:57:0000:10:2500:29:2800:15:294Emma LombardiFRA00:57:0300:10:1700:29:3200:15:395Beth PotterGBR00:57:1000:10:2100:29:3100:15:456Nina EimGER00:57:1100:10:1900:29:3200:15:447Taylor SpiveyUSA00:57:1500:10:1100:29:3800:15:478Tanja NeubertGER00:57:2100:10:2500:29:2000:15:549Tilda ManssonSWE00:57:2500:10:2800:29:2300:15:5110Anna Godoy ContrerasESP00:57:3100:10:2100:29:3300:15:59
WTCS standings after French Riviera (which is race 5)
PositionNameNationalityCounting Races*Points1Cassandre BeaugrandFRA32925.002Leonie PeriaultFRA32587.723Jeanne LehairLUX32551.404Beth PotterGBR32512.725Lisa TertschGER32282.826Tilda ManssonSWE31847.477Nina EimGER31795.138Jolien VermeylenBEL31671.359Taylor SpiveyUSA31658.1210Rosa Maria Tapia VidalMEX31567.84*Best three races of WTCS season to count plus the Grand Final in Woolongong
