Lance Armstrong takes second place on return to Ironman

From Ironman.com:

Lance Armstrong placed second in his return to Ironman competition, placing second in the Ironman 70.3 Panama to New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty.

Docherty was second out of the water and seventh off the bike, and came across the finish line at 3:50:13, less than a minute ahead of the seven-time Tour de France champion.

It should be no surprise that Armstrong made his jump on the bike stage. Armstrong and Chris Lieto made their move in the closing miles of the leg, jumping out of a group of approximately eight athletes to pass Bertrand Billard, who led most of the way.

Lieto led the early miles of the run, but was passed before the end of the first of two loops of the run course by Armstrong. Armstrong was able to hold off some of the sport’s top runners, pulling away from Galindez and holding off Docherty until almost mile 12 of the run. Ultimately Docherty passed him to earn his second Ironman 70.3 win and maintain his unbeaten streak over the distance – his first win came 12 years ago.

More than 600 athletes around the globe started the point-to-point 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim that took place in the Pacific Ocean. Athletes continued along a 56-mile bike course that utilized the Bridge of the Americas, which connects Central and South America, as they made their way to the Pan American Highway and through the forest that protects the biodiversity and Panama Canal watershed. Returning to transition, competitors passed by Panama City’s downtown area along the Cinta Costera, with the district’s state of the art buildings that emerge on the shores of the Bay of Panama. The two-loop run course took athletes on a 13.1-mile (21 km) run through the Amador Causeway, a major tourism area surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Panama Canal.