Was this one of Jonny Brownlee’s best races ever? He won WTS Gold Coast in Australia today looking every inch a world-class athlete at the top of his game, beating Spanish rivals Mario Mola and Javier Gomez to the top of the podium.
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>>> Jonny Brownlee takes outstanding win at WTS Auckland
Under partly cloudy skies on the east coast of Australia, Slovakia’s Richard Varga led out of the 1.5km swim, followed closely by Jonny. Out of T1 and a small lead pack of four athletes quickly formed: Brownlee, Varga and Russian brothers Igor and Dmitry Polyanskiy.
There was no Alistair to help drive the pace, with the elder Brownlee still out due to injury and expected to return for WTS Cape Town in two weeks’ time, but Jonny still marshalled their efforts to ensure the pace was kept high throughout the eight-lap 40km bike.
They continued to extend their lead from the chase group that contained all the big names Javier Gomez, Mario Mola, Richard Murray but at the start of the six lap Igor Plyanskiy crashed going into a corner reducing the lead group to three. The second and third chase groups merged and set about reducing the one minute gap.
Murray, Benjamin Shaw (IRL), Ben Kanute (USA), Gomez and Ryan Bailie (AUS) all contributed to the effort and at the final change the gap was down to a 21sec deficit and applying some pressure to the three up front.
And that’s two in a row for @jonny_brownlee. @mariomola second & @Jgomeznoya third. #WTSGoldCoast pic.twitter.com/hNJepLqzWF
— World Triathlon (@worldtriathlon) April 11, 2015
Brownlee was the first to clear out and the first kilometre saw a group of Spaniards including Mola, Gomez and Vincente Hernandez formed the group to set about chasing down Brownlee. Mola seized his opportunity and grabbed a small lead in the last lap to earn himself the silver medal and his second time on the podium this year after winning in Abu Dhabi.
“That is racing, we were in the third pack in the beginning, we could not close that gap but Jonny was amazing today he did a lot of work on the bike and then ran like a maniac so congratulations to him,” said Mola. “I am very happy with my performance, I think it has been a great race for all of the Spanish athletes, we are doing well.”
Gomez grabbed the bronze medal and the last spot on the podium when he also pushed in the last lap to break away from Hernandez.
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“It was very tough today. I felt better towards the end of the run but the first laps I struggled on the pace,” said Gomez. “It was kind of an average race out there for me, my swim was not great, it was not my best day but I secured a spot on the podium which is always good. Jonny was strong today and so was Mola.”
Elite Men
1. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) – 01:46:53
2. Mario Mola (ESP) – 01:47:11
3. Javier Gomez Noya (ESP) – 01:47:21
4. Vicente Hernandez (ESP)– 01:47:26
5. Richard Murray (RSA) – 01:47:45
6. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) – 01:47:55
7. Fernando Alarza(ESP) – ES01:48:18
8. Joao Pereira(POR) – 01:48:19
9. Ryan Bailie (AUS) – 01:48:23
10. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) – 01:48:30
View full results.
1. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) – 2186 pts
2. Javier Gomez Noya (ESP) – 1967 pts
3. Mario Mola (ESP) – 1809 pts
4. Fernando Alarza(ESP) – 1635 pts
5. Ryan Bailie (AUS) – 1305 pts