Neumann returns to the Ibiza T100 with modest hopes of defending his title

The 29-year-old Neumann described his win in the Balearic Islands last year as the biggest victory of his career, but his progress since then has been hampered by a stress fracture in his sacrum which has sidelined him for three months.

The Australian finished 19th on his return to the T100 scene in July and says this Saturday’s race will be another stepping stone in his recovery.

“I’m feeling a bit better than I was in London, it’s nice to be back here, it’s such a nice place. “I’m just going to have fun and hopefully get a better result than last time,” he said.

“When we flew in I had a feeling of familiarity and this race was the starting signal for me. It was definitely the biggest result of my career. Unfortunately I suffered a serious injury afterwards so I wasn’t able to race very often, but it is a very special race and will always be close to my heart.

“We are slowly rebuilding ourselves and hope that we can build on this result in the next few years and come back with full force.

“I think by Dubai I should be in a position where I’ll be more competitive, but I’m still at the stage of getting back into racing, gaining a bit of confidence and working on my running. The problem, which I had problems with during the injury. With that sorted out, hopefully we can work on all three things and put things together.

“By Dubai I want to have an all-round race where I am happy with all three stages. Until then, I think I’ll use Vegas as a springboard and hopefully have a few more runs under my belt and be fighting for the top five by mid-November.”

The main conversation before this week’s race is around changes to the bike course. Two laps through the hilly landscape to Santa Eularia replace a round trip on a highway like in 2023.

“The bike course is harder than last year,” said Neumann.

“There are some long straights where you can easily disappear. So if someone with a bit of enthusiasm tackles the bike route, they can easily give people a few minutes to spare.

“I think the leading group will be pretty small and split up pretty quickly. It looks like it’s going to be pretty warm and I think it’s going to be a super interesting race for the men and women.”

Watch the Ibiza T100 Triathlon races live in Europe on Eurosport 2. The men’s coverage is at 7:45am in the UK, with the race starting at 8am and the women joining at 10:30am. Both Ibiza T100 racing and behind-the-scenes content are available to watch live and for free on PTO+ from everywhere.