The 26-year-old delivered a fifth-place finish in the Ironman World Championship<\/a><\/strong> on the French Riviera in Nice, bettering both his sixth place in the same event in St George last May<\/a><\/strong> and seventh in Hawaii in October<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n But he also caused a stir at the pre-race press conference by wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan DRUGS ARE BAD.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During the post-race press conference, we asked the Frenchman to explain the intent behind the wardrobe choice and whether it held special meaning after a year in which triathlon had been rocked by one of its biggest doping scandals<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was coming back from the Ironman world champs last year in St George and we had a stopover in Las Vegas, and I was walking around the strip,\u201d Chevalier explained. \u201cI found this t-shirt for $7 in a store. <\/span>Apparently it\u2019s from a TV programme to put kids off drugs. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d been wanting to wear it to a press conference for a while. This was pretty big press conference and I don\u2019t do many, so thought it would be quite funny.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut also this year we\u2019ve had one big doping case in triathlon. Maybe I was a bit naive, but I always thought the sport was pretty clean because in the short time I\u2019ve been doing long-distance triathlon I\u2019ve been able to get pretty close to the top.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt shows the performances that we see are realistic, and it\u2019s a shame that people think they need to take shortcuts to win races. I got a lot of positive feedback from wearing that t-shirt and if it shows people that as athletes we don\u2019t want drugs in the sport then hopefully that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Chevalier received a round of applause from the room for the statement, which added to the cheers he\u2019d received earlier in the day from the home support around the course.<\/span><\/p>\n The race on the Cote d\u2019Azur had got off to a good start. Acknowledging the 2.4-mile swim \u2013 particularly being non-wetsuit \u2013 was the weakest part of his race, he said he \u201ckept digging\u201d and it felt faster than in Hawaii in October. <\/span><\/p>\n Having also lost less time to the front than in Kona, it was then time to \u201chammer\u201d the bike to try and catch the leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI had hopes to catch the front of the race, but didn\u2019t quite have the power that I wanted to have,\u201d Chevalier admitted. \u201cI felt amazing three weeks ago when I came to do the recce (watch it below), but the past three weeks were a bit more complicated as I returned to altitude and I felt the effects of the big training block.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve tested this. The bike was pretty hard but it turns out I was further up than I thought, although as I was running through T2 I saw the group with Patrick [Lange]<\/a><\/strong> coming in and had hoped they were so much further behind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThankfully, only Patrick ran through, although I thought I\u2019d give it a go to match his pace and ran 3-4km with him. We were running 3:20min\/km and I thought: \u2018This is suicide.\u2019 He then put in a dig and went off on his own.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Chevalier still managed to hold on for an Ironman best marathon of 2:39:26. \u201cI\u2019m mega happy with that. I\u2019ve known I\u2019ve had a faster marathon than what I\u2019ve run before and to execute that is great. I\u2019ve been running really well this season, with some crazy sessions at 1,700m altitude doing 1km reps on roads that aren\u2019t flat at 3min\/km.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a world champs and this is my best finish so far. Top five really isn\u2019t bad and actually probably my best overall Ironman if I look at the swim, a bike with pretty big power \u2013 although not quite what I hoped \u2013 but I backed it up with a really strong marathon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Leon](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2023\/09\/IMG5490-4eab6fc.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C465\" "\\"IMG_5490\\"\/")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Chevalier\u2019s race recap<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Watch Chevalier\u2019s Nice bike course recce with nutrition sponsors Precision Hydration<\/b><\/h3>\n