Ibiza Vibing 🏝 The world's best prepare for race day | Behind The Scenes at PTO European Open

Let me take you to a place I know It's like my sacred ground Feels like you're ready Come on, let's go I know you're gonna love this town You're my connection My intervention Pure elation, yeah Sweet sensation You're my connection My intervention Pure elation Come on, lift me up To the highest ground Up to Sweden We're never gonna come back down You got supernatural power How you doing? Josh and I have both raced this year I raced only once in Australia I did a Hell of the West triathlon, it's called It's out in a place called Gundawindi Yeah, but no, like, big racing This is, like, the first big race of the year We checked out the bike course yesterday Course is pretty, like, basic And pretty, yeah, straightforward It's literally on a motorway It'll showcase the race really well Because it's just, like, a pretty open, wide road You can, yeah, broadcast really easily Gotta be able to showcase the sport, too, right? You can't just have us, like, go off on some 80k loop On small, tiny roads where, you know, it can't be filmed, so Yeah, I think that, to be honest, like You're good at focusing on yourself Yeah, I do think I'm good at focusing on myself You know, I had some good success in the PTO races last year But if I'm completely honest, like, I feel like I'm still learning a lot, too Across this distance and across the sport It is very different to the short course racing I came from So, especially in Dallas, I think I made good decisions I didn't feel particularly good on the bike anyway But I knew that no one would be Because it was actually just so hot and hard That there was no way anyone was comfortable Especially with, like, your time trial helmets on the bike course I felt like my head was gonna explode And that was an instance where I felt like I didn't care about what my power was I just tried to, like, just not implode And just try and manage myself really well in the heat And I think because I didn't push over that threshold on the bike In those conditions It really helped me actually get off the bike in a pretty good state And I kind of got off and I was able to run super well Because you did so well, though You know, obviously people talk about the pre-race favourites Or expectations and stuff like that But, you know, I think that I'm, yeah, pretty... Yeah, my feet are firmly on the ground, that's for sure I think that it won't be easy to do what I did last year There's a lot of girls that are coming into this race You know, that have shown super good and strong early season form So I think it'll just be interesting Because there's so many different women who can, you know Be on the podium this race And we've never actually had a PTO race, you know, early May So it'll be interesting to see how everyone stacks up so early on in the season Coming off, I guess, a summer of training for Aussies and Kiwis And, yeah, a winter and some racing for the Euros and Americans Ready? Yeah Okay, first run in Ibiza, let's go! Let's go Is it exciting to be here with so many pros? I am so excited We traveled all the way from Madrid just to come and see the pros And I called my mom when I met Lucy this morning She's in Washington, D.C. and I was like, Mom, I met Lucy Charles! And she was like, oh my god! So, yeah, it's actually really special My name is Anna And I have a cardiac and joint condition So when I was in my lowest of lows, I started cycling And that kind of got me into triathlon Watching Lucy's videos has really inspired me to keep going on the days where I can't And then this is my fiancé, Javi, who recently got diagnosed with terminal cancer So his story and her advocacy for cancer that she just did, the fundraiser Was just so special that when I saw they were running in Ibiza, I was like, Hey, do you want to go? Not a bad venue also No, and luckily we've been in Madrid for his treatment So it just worked out I am so glad that you guys are here then You're having a fantastic time, okay? Thank you We're here in Ibiza It's beautiful What a place for a race I'm headed out for one of my final pre-race shakeouts with some pickups My husband is going to join me because he's a champion And, yeah, life is good Ciao I will give you a sweater tie Because I'm just that kind of gal I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it Good luck! Thank you so much I'll see you soon Steve is the real MVP He's my secret weapon I boost your confidence By running very slow How does that feel? Horrible, horrible I need to rest for two days now Hello HP team Hello, good luck in all your races Here in Ibiza How's it feeling? How are you holding up with the heat? The Spanish heat You know, I live in the Gran Canaria during the whole winter So I love the heat I hate the cold I'm Danish by appearance and Spanish by heart, I think Lovely I have to learn how to speak the language as well That will come It's my favorite race destination so far It's nice to say without having to do the race even yet How are you feeling for the race? I feel good I feel very excited and ready to go What do you think is going to happen? For the first time in a long, like a couple of years I actually feel calm before a race Of course I've got butterflies in my stomach But I feel calm leading into it So I think it's crazy to have that feel here as we do It's a podium It's difficult Me, Christian and Jan I've got Ibiza color zone today Is it good to be in Ibiza? Is it your first time? Yeah, it's my first time I never thought I'd come to Ibiza for a race Can I take a picture with you? Yeah, sure I love it It's so random How has your preparation gone for the race? Yeah, pretty good It's still early in the year My aim is always to build throughout the year I'm happy where I'm at now I'm just looking forward to putting a good race together Has it gone well the last few days being in Ibiza? Yeah, for sure I'm slowly feeling better and better as it gets closer to the race So hopefully I feel good tomorrow I'm looking forward to having a few strong swimmers at the front To hopefully break up the race a little bit Because I don't want to all be coming out together Because it's so deep and so strong That we want to get away from all the strong runners It'll just be interesting to see how it really plays out It's going to be a lot of laps on the run Six laps with three little prongs each lap We're going to see each other a bunch That's going to be super stressful It'll be fun and we're going to know exactly where everyone is Throughout the whole race It's going to be a lot of mind games A lot of trying to stay focused And stay on your own race Is it your first time in Ibiza, Kyle? It's my first time in the party island Not what I expected My preparation has been really good I haven't really told the story I haven't really delved into it Last year I got really sick After Edmonton last year Actually after St. George last year I basically was struggling all year I didn't know what it was It turns out I had a pretty bad virus I was battling through I had a poor result I had to pull out of Kona I didn't know what was going wrong with my body After that I got a lot of tests I had to have about 10 weeks off after Kona I started training again January 1st Literally 8 kilos heavier than what I should have been Just enjoying being back healthy Being back able to train Seeing those progressions happen Back down to short distance this year It's been going quite good so far It's going to be interesting to see How my preparation goes for a race like this Versus last year where I was training for Ironman I think that training for short distance racing Racing the 100k distance is a lot better Than training for an Ironman racing down I'm super excited to be racing I'm healthy, I'm fit I'm happy and ready to go It's been a bit hectic We were back in New Zealand Amongst that I've been able to get Solid uninterrupted training Which I think is so beneficial for me The last 3 weeks have been a real big push Towards this race Training with Jan lifts it to the next level He's now fit and healthy He was really motivated for this race We both were It was a perfect training environment Where we were both just Kicking each other around in training Getting the best out of each other I'm really looking forward to being Able to hopefully be competitive Last year was really frustrating I'd never been dropped on the bike before in a race I didn't really understand what was going wrong In those races and going backwards I think it was a big lesson for me Just to always stay positive Getting dropped on the bike And still being able to be there in contention I'm just really looking forward to I just hope that My potential is there I know that my talent is there I just hope that I can execute that I've got nothing to lose this weekend I think I'm just going to Roll the dice Absolutely send it And hope for the best Hopefully it can make an exciting race I'm definitely going full gas And holding on