Gianluigi Moroni reporting on Ironman 70.3 Valencia
Date: 19 April 2026 | Location: Valencia, Spain
I had booked the race in April 2025: my 25 years old son Alex convinced me to do it, as he had decided to enroll with a friend and his dad. It would be the first triathlon ever for both him and his friend, while the other dad and I both had done several Olympic and three 70.3.
Alex had a rental bike from the organization, a nice Scott foil with tribars, while I took my Wilier Turbine TT bike from Dubai. We decided to go for a rental for him since he did not have at home a bike good enough for the race when he did the booking; a couple of weeks before the race he however bought a beautiful Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 8, however it was too late to cancel the booking without paying the full rental price (about 400 Euros).
Alex reached Valencia in the late morning on the 17th, I arrived later in the evening with my wife Cristina. He managed to do his registration and get his bike on Friday, while I had to do my registration on Saturday 18th. Also my daughter Gaia with her boyfriend Joe joined the group to support us.
The bike rental company was very well organized, with good quality bikes and they also gave you a quick set up when you collected it. They also had options for a TT bike (mostly Scott), a little more expensive, but Alex had never ridden one before and given that the course had some steep descents we decided to go for a normal aero road bike.
The course was set with T1 on the beach promenade, and T2 by the "cuitat de les arts i les ciencies", where the finish line was. This setup allowed athletes and fans to experience the beautiful beach, the scenic hills around the city and finally the impressive art and science city with the park built around it, on a former riverbed of the river Turia, which was drained and rerouted after a catastrophic flood in 1957.
The distance between T1 and T2 created some logistic challenges, especially when setting up the transition bags; we dropped bike and T1 bag in the T1 area, then took a taxi to T2 to drop our T2 bags, with the running gear. Someone instead cycled to T2 to drop the T2 bag and then cycled back to T1, a possible alternative which however required more time and effort, and we were keen to take some rest on Saturday afternoon. To be noted that while you could add something to your T1 bag on the morning of the race, your T2 bag needed to be finalized the day before the race.
The race was very well organized: plenty of restrooms at the start and feeding stations both on the bike and on the run course.
The water temperature was just perfect, about 17 degrees, the feeling was slightly cold at the beginning but after a few strokes it was just fine. The sea was flat, with no waves and extremely pleasant. Very easy course, T-shaped, well indicated with massive triangular buoys at the key corners and smaller rectangular ones along the path.
The cycling route was also very pleasant. It started flat, just right to get you warmed up and your heart rate going, then started to climb for 20 Km, first gently at 2-3%, then a little steeper for the last 10 Km, with a maximum gradient of about 7%. Very doable with a TT bike. The scenery was very pretty, going through lovely villages, pine woods and orchards. The descent was very safe, where you could really push a speed, with the only exception of a couple of turn pins at the beginning where you needed to brake and be careful of the other athletes around you.
At the end of the bike course, it was spectacular to enter the park, with its impressive monuments and suspended bridge.
My T2 was a bit of a nightmare, as I could not find my bike spot (despite having checked for it the day before), went back and forth a couple of times so I probably wasted 2-3 minutes there.
The run consisted of two long loops in the park, a good choice as it gave your supporters the chance to see you often and cheer you on, very much needed at that point in the race.
The temperature was on the warm side, with a maximum of 29 degrees C and a minimum of 24 degC, however there was a nice breeze and a few sectors in the shade. Unfortunately, I had suffered a knee injury about a month before the race, so I had stopped running to preserve them, and this certainly showed in my running time.
Overall, it took me 5h 58’, with 38’ swim, 2h34’ bike and 2h27’ run. 18’of transitions, which can certainly be improved.
Alex did very well, finishing in 5h 16’, with 32’ swim, 2h 44’ bike and 1h 47’ run. Only 11’ in transition, which is remarkable for a first triathlon.
After the race there was a covered area arranged for athletes, with a changing corner where to collect your white bag and a food stand with hot dogs, sandwiches and other stuff. I was too tired to eat anything, but they told me the food was good.
While we were cycling, the organization took all the T1 bags to the T2 area, so at the end of the race you could collect all your bags and check out your bike in the same place.
Overall, a fantastic experience, which I would like to repeat. Everything worked well, including the amazing paella on the day after the race.
I have a few recommendations and lessons learned:
- Arrive earlier: aim to arrive one day earlier than I did, to have the full Friday available for registration and equipment setup and take a real rest on Saturday.
- Plan departure timing: consider departing on Tuesday to avoid airport congestion on Monday, when many athletes travel with bike boxes.
- Transition discipline: take extra time pre‑race to confirm exact bike rack position and landmarks in T2 to reduce time lost during the race.
- Book your restaurants: the city is very busy, and the good ones go fast. We had the pella at Casa Carmela, along the beach close to T1. If you want to have the Paella Valenciana (meat instead of fish) you need to book it.
- Appreciate your supporters: the setup makes the experience for the supporters a tiring quest. In addition, the organization does not provide anything for them, for example it was very hard for them to find any sort of food close by the finish line area. I bet a kiosk with sandwiches would have made a fortune on that day.
Alex has a nice Sport Vlog on Instagram where he also described the experience of Valencia 70.3. He spends quite some time and efforts making the edits, I find his posts quite entertaining.
If you are interested, go and have a look at: www.instagram.com/mozzamoves/
By Gianluigi Moroni