Alistair Brownlee smashes the field at ITU San Diego in his triumphant return to Olympic-distance racing.
Alistair Brownlee took dominant victory ITU San Diego 2013 – his 13th ITU WTS win (Photo: Delly Carr/ITU)
Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez’s showdown was set to the be the highlight of ITU San Diego, the second leg of this year’s ITU World Triathlon Series, but those hoping for a battle of these triathlon giants missed out as Brownlee destroyed the field to seize his first ITU WTS race of the year.
As the wetsuited men pelted headlong across the beach and into the salty shallows of the Pacific Ocean, it was the USA’s Tommy Zaferes who immediately struck out into the lead, apparently determined to maintain the pace of his sprint start throughout the swim.
Zaferes successfully strung the field out into a long line with Britain’s Alistair Brownlee on his toes. At the half way mark – an incredible 7:25 750m – Zaferes was first back onto the beach with Brownlee second, Henri Schoeman of the Republic of South Africa third and Aaron Royle of Australia fifth. Surprisingly, regular swim leader Richard Varga of Slovakia was back in eighth place, 11 seconds behind Zaferes, while Gomez was in tenth.
Usual order was returned somewhat during the second half of the swim with Zaferes continuing to lead, Brownlee on his heels and Varga moving up to third. Zaferes splashed back onto the beach for the final time, exiting the water in a stunning time of 16:03, followed by Brownlee, Varga, Schoeman and Royle with Gomez in seventh place, eight seconds behind the leader.
Brownlee seemed to loose a second with his wetsuit removal, but the key players from the front of the field – including Gomez – soon managed to get out onto the bike while the rest of the men’s field – courtesy of Zaferes’ savage swim speed – continued to stream into the blue-carpeted transition area.
Zaferes was first onto the road, regular looks over his shoulder signalling his intention to escape as part of a group, rather than solo.
The front group of nine was soon established including Zaferes, Brownlee, Gomez, Varga, Royle, Schoeman, Spain’s Fernando Alarza, France’s Aurelien Raphael and Russia’s Ivan Vasiliev. Brownlee, clearly in great form, immediately started taking big turns on the front of the breakaway pack, upping the tempo effortlessly and even losing his fellow escapees for a few moments before they bridged to join him.
Behind, the large chasing group stretched out around the course’s tight hairpins. With none of the breakaway’s determination to up the pace, they were 17 seconds behind at the end of the first of eight 5km laps. Mario Mola, the prodigious new Spanish talent who came second behind Gomez in Auckland, France’s Laurent Vidal and Portugal’s Joao Silva were also part of the chase group, 37 seconds behind Brownlee.
The USA’s Kyle Jones crashed out of the race near the start of the bike, while countryman Jarrod Shoemaker soon pulled out with a mechanical.
The leaders’ advantage soon started to increase, Brownlee marshalling his pack to keep effort levels high and pull out a 26-second lead as Gomez led through the blue carpet at 10km in. One lap later, the lead was up to 30 seconds, though some speed seemed to have been scrubbed off from the breakaway.
As the lead group started to lose time – 20 seconds at the end of lap three - Brownlee continued to push hard, distancing the other riders to go it alone on lap four, daring the rest of the group to follow him. At the half way mark, Brownlee had a slim four-second lead with the main chasing group another seven seconds back, all signals pointing to an imminent catch, which came early on during lap five, the field back together with less than half the bike course left to traverse.
A group of five tried to distance themselves from the peloton during lap five, but were soon reeled back in. Russia’s Andrey Bryukhankov then took off for an eight-second lead at the start of lap seven. Edging out to 30 seconds at one point, going into the bell lap Bryukhankov’s lead had been slashed to six seconds.
The Russian was then joined by countryman Denis Vasiliev and Spain’s Jesus Gomar, the trio quickly pushing the lead up to 20 seconds on the way into transition. As the riders dismounted, Vasiliev in the lead, Gomar took a spectacular tumble, slipping off the pedal while while balanced poised to run, his bike ricocheting wildly, spinning towards the crowd. The Spaniard quickly sprang back to his feet, recovered his bike and ran towards the racking area.
New Zealand’s Clark Ellice was fourth to enter T2, 12 seconds back, while Brownlee led the main group in, 21 seconds behind Valsiliev, who was also first out onto the run with a few seconds in hand.
Brownlee then strolled into first place, Silva trying to stay with the Yorkshireman as he quickly pushed on. South Africa’s Richard Murray – third on this course last year – was running hard in third, followed by Russia’s Dmitry Polyanskiy, Gomez and Mola.
Silva soon succumbed to Brownlee’s pace, unable to match the Olympic Champion’s speed as the metres between them increased, Murray moving up to second. Great Britain’s Adam Bowden ran into fourth as Brownlee finished lap one of three on the 10km course with a lead of eight seconds over Murray. Bowden’s pack, including Gomez, Mola, Germany’s Steffen Justus and Dmitry Polyanskiy was at 19 seconds.
During lap two, Brownlee only increased his advantage, pacing 15 seconds clear, his lips stretched and brow creased in his usual look of fatigue that belies the Brit’s strength. Murray managed to distance Silva by six seconds, who was still holding onto the bottom step of the podium, ten seconds ahead of Gomez’s group.
Going into the final lap, Brownlee was ahead of Murray by 22 seconds, Silva another 10 seconds behind, the five-man chasing group one minute behind the Brit. By the final split before the finish, Brownlee had put yet more time into his pursuers, now 32 seconds clear in a spectacularly-fast run.
As the Olympic Champion reached the barriered section on his way to the finish line, a grin appeared on his face. He waved to fans, slowed to a light jog to give a row of high-fives before looking behind and shrugging incredulously at the lack of competition and walking slowly over the finish line in a time of 1:47:16, still managing a 29:30 10k despite his leisurely wander to victory.
Richard Murray came home elated in second place, 22 seconds behind, with Silva taking a second third-place this year another 14 seconds behind to go top of the world ITU rankings.
Dashing from the next pack, Justus took fourth in 1:48:14 with Mola claiming fifth in 1:48:18 and Adam Bowden running strongly for sixth. Dmitry Polyanskiy took seventh while Gomez ran across the line in eighth place, 1 minute 22 seconds behind Brownlee.