Digital magazines from the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and the World Triathlon Series
Issue link: http://worldtriathlon.uberflip.com/i/1313191
The weather had calmed considerably from the wet and windy conditions leading up to the start, the lake waters flat for the 750m swim. As the athletes' masks were discarded, the pre-race protocols were complete and number one Vincent Luis set himself on the edge of the pontoon for the fastest line to the first buoy. He was quickly out towards the front of the 66-strong field, Austria's Alois Knabl also going well, Alistair Brownlee showing his determination in his 66 start number to pull to the front. Brownlee and Luis were shoulder to shoulder at the first turn and then the Frenchman pulled ahead of Knabl and started to stretch things out across the second half of the swim. Germany's Jonas Schomburg was right on Jonathan Brownlee's heels too, but for the final 250m straight it was Ali and the home favourite spearing the water and out first up the steps into transition. Jelle Geens (BEL), Richard Murray (RSA) and Alex Yee (GBR) emerged 14 seconds back, Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) a further 7 seconds behind them, and it was a sad end for teammate Casper Stornes whose wetsuit issues took him out of the race. It was Ali Brownlee taking to the front over the first stages of the bike to drive the pace and he was soon caught by his brother and the French trio of Luis, Coninx and Bergere, Portugal's Vilaça had delivered a brilliant swim and worked hard to join them alongside home favourite Justus Nieschlag and Hungary's Mark Devay. Barclay Izzard (GBR) and Schomburg soon felt the pace and dropped back to join the growing group of chasers. That hungry pack was 18 seconds behind in the early stages and led by Murray, but the smaller lead group was well organised around the hairpins and managed to increase the lead to 21 seconds at the halfway point. With Blummenfelt making his way to the front and soon driving the chase group of over thirty athletes including Murray, Geens, Yee, Shachar Sagiv (ISR) and Mario Mola (ESP), they were able to cut the gap to a more manageable 15 seconds with two laps to go, but that was as good as it would get. Alistair Brownlee was into the shoes first right at the back of T2, but by the time he was out of transition, Vilaça and Bergere were already into their stride. Luis bridged up to them while the Brit fell back and then his brother was soon caught by Geens and Blummenfelt as they put the hammer down immediately to try and keep the leaders in reach. For much of the run it looked a lost cause, Luis, Bergere and Vilaça comfortable and maintaining a 13-second lead with 1500m to go. Geens then made a bold move to try and pile on some pressure, Yee also motoring his way into position, bit nobody could do anything to impact on the podium places. With 350m to go, the small gap Luis carved out grew bigger with every pace, while behind him it was Portugal's Vilaça who had the final move in the battle for silver, edging out Leo Bergere to the bronze. Sure enough, Geens had reduced the deficit to 9 seconds as he finished in fourth, Yee with fifth place. Dorian Coninx, Richard Murray, Morgan Pearson (USA), Alistair Brownlee, and Max Studer (SUI) closing out the top 10. HAMBURG WASSER WORLD TRIATHLON SERIES (M) Full Results Watch the race on 8 contents