Marten van Riel put himself in a commanding position to be crowned the first-ever T100 World Tour champion with a thrilling victory in Ibiza.

The Belgian beat the Balearic heat and outran French rival Sam Laidlow to become the first man to win two races in the inaugural T100 season. 

Van Riel, who won on his first start in San Francisco, is now fourth in the overall standings and just nine points off the lead with two races to go. 

“(The overall title) was my biggest goal before this year,” said Van Riel. “I’m all in for it. If I do my best on every single race and I keep getting good results, I’ll be close. It’s definitely a goal.” 

The pros will race in Las Vegas next month before the final hits Dubai in November. 

Van Riel, who sank to 22nd place at the Paris Olympics, emerged from the 2km swim in first position. 

The 31-year-old quickly found himself joined at the front of the race by reigning IRONMAN world champion Laidlow, born in Bedfordshire but representing France on the global stage. 

While the pair were dictating terms in the early stages of the 80km bike leg, they both followed a motorbike the wrong way around the course and had to claw ground back. 

Both managed to surge back to form a lead group of six featuring Germany’s Rico Brogen and Britain’s Alistair Brownlee, although the two-time Olympic gold medallist’s hopes of a podium finish were scuppered by a drafting penalty, the first in T100 history. 

Bogen led going into the 18km run before being overhauled by Van Riel and Laidlow, who duked it out until the penultimate lap, when the Belgian chose a technical downhill section of the course to mount a decisive attack.

Van Riel crossed the line in a winning time of 3 hours 11 minutes and 36 seconds and cut the tape 26 seconds ahead of Laidlow, with German wildcard Mika Noodt completing the podium. 

Van Riel said: “Sam was really strong, he made me work for it. It’s amazing to share a battle with a legend like him, one of the greatest in our sport. To take the win at the end, I’m even more happy.”

Laidlow added: “I’m pretty happy - the fuel on my fire is wanting to be the best triathlete in the world and it’s a slow process to get there. 

“I lost to not only an amazing athlete but a great guy, I really like Marten and he’s just phenomenal. Clearly, he’s the real deal.”