18 April 2004: Valencia Spain

Final: A new European Champion is crowned....Vanessa Fernandez romped home in style to take the win by 41 seconds. Kate Allen posted the fastest run split of the day from overcoming a 2 minute deficit after the bike to overtake both Pilar Hidalgo who was 3rd and to knock Christiane Pilz off the podium. A great crowd of Spanish spectators gathered at the finish to welcome home Fernandez and to help celebrate Hidalgo's podium finish.

Run: 5km: Fernandez has increased her lead to 29 seconds as Pilar Hidalgo and Christiane Pilz have passed Dibens. Kate Allen is making up lots of time from that big pack which entered T2 with over 2 minutes back, but time is running out for her to catch the leaders.

Run: 2.5km: Vanessa Fernandez closed the gap on Diben on the first lap and then caught her at the 3km mark. As she passed the 5km mark she had a 10second lead, and was running very well. Pilar Hidalgo and Christiane Pilz, also trying to keep pace with the young Portuguese athlete were closing in on Dibens in the hunt for those coveted podium sport.

Transition 2: Julie Dibens exited the transition onto the 4 lap, 10km run with a 26 second lead. The chase group of 4 flew through transition with Fernanda our first, followed by Pilz, Zelenkova and Hidalgo. The big pack entered transition over 2 minutes behind the leaders. Elizabeth May of Luxembourg was first out from that group followed by Kate Allen of Austria and Mieke Suys of Belgium

Bike: 35km - bell lap: Julie Dibens has increased her lead off the front to 23 seconds, but does seem to be paying the price for going it alone, especially as the wind is increasing. The chase group of 4 is benefitting from the work of Dibens and have increased their gap on the big pack to 1:40. The large pack is just not working well and is losing time.

Bike: 30km: Julie Dibens has increased her lead to 22 seconds over the group of 4 behind (Lucie Zelenkova, Christiane Pilz, Pilar Hidalgo and Vanessa Fernandez. The big pack led by Ana Burgos and Kathleen Smet is losing time and is now 56 seconds behind.

Bike: 25km: Julie Dibens has made a break from the lead group and has a gap of 6 seconds. The 4 remaining are still working well and have increased their lead on the big chase pack to 56 seconds. Kathleen Smet led the big pack as it came through the stadium area.

Bike: 20km: The lead group of 5 continue to stay 35 seconds ahead of the chase pack. On lap 4, the second chase pack led by Kathleen Smet caught the 1st chase group to form a very large chase group. The large group has allowed the leaders to increase their lead from 30 seconds to 35 seconds. The big chase pack is being led by Kate Allen of Austria. They are trying to catch the leaders. The lead group seems to have got themselves organised after giving up some time on the chase group.

Bike: 15km: The leaders have increased their lead to 40 seconds on the chase pack which is currently being pulled by France's Marion Lorblanchett and Silvia Gemignani of Italy.

Bike: 10km: The group of 5 at the front have put 20 seconds on the chase pack, which is now 8. The chase group includes Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, Ainhoa Murua and Virginia Berasategui of Spain. The second chase pack is a further 20 seconds back and is being led by Kathleen Smet of Belgium, Ana Burgos of Spain and Beatrice Lanza of Italy.

Swim: 1 lap, 1500m: Spain's Pilar Hidalgo exited the water first, but was passed in the run to the transition by Portugal's Vanessa Fernandes. A group of 5 started the bike together at the front which also included Lucie Zelenkova of the Czech Republic, Julie Dibens of Britain and Christiane Pilz of Germany. The chase group out of transition was the pair of Ainhoa Murua of Spain and Wieke Hoozgaard of the Netherlands. The event now begins the 8 lap, 40km bike