Gomez reigns at Auckland
Jonathan Brownlee can be forgiven if he is experiencing a case of déjà vu. Just as the 2013 World Triathlon Series Grand Final unfolded last year in London, Javier Gomez ran him down once again in the final meters to win the 2014 World Triathlon Series season opener after a race long duel.
This time around, the margin of victory at the Auckland (New Zealand) World Triathlon Series race was 20 seconds, not a heartbreaking one single second. And this time the stakes were less dramatic. This was for one race, not the entire series. And the difference was 60 points toward the 2014 season, not the entire 2013 WTS season prize pool.
Richard Varga, Henri Schoeman and Dmitry Polyanskiy outswam Gomez and Brownlee by a few seconds, and then a breakaway front bike pack of 12 men wrapped around the two main protagonists. As the front pack accelerated away, big threat runners Joao Silva, Sven Riederer Steffen Justus and Mario Mola were left in a weak chase pack that ended up out of hope 2 minutes down by T2. Meanwhile, an Aussie-Kiwi battle erupted for a chance at a first time WTS podium — and potential qualification (8th place or better) for a spot on their nation’s Commonwealth Games teams.
New Zealand’s Tom Davison (18:36 swim) and Ryan Sissons (18:46 swim) worked fanatically hard on the bike to bridge back up to the lead pack. But after Davison did most of the work towing Sissons and Australian Declan Wilson to complete a 16-man front pack, he did not have enough left to produce a top run. The real trans-Tasman battle for the last podium slot and potential Commonwealth slots formed between Aussies Dan Wilson, Aaron Royle and Ryan Bailie and Sissons, who benefited on the run from Davison’s draft.
The Spaniard and the Englishman took control immediately on the run. By the end of the first of four 2.5-kilometer laps, Gomez and Brownlee were shoulder to shoulder while Dan Wilson hung on by his fingernails 7 seconds back, followed by fellow Aussies Ryan Bailie and Aaron Royle at 13 seconds back. Mario Mola of Spain, the man many thought could challenge Gomez after posting two impressive wins early this season, was out of the picture after a mediocre swim and second pack bike.
By the halfway point of the run, the two had pulled away from any rational hope the chasers had to come back. Finally, in the last kilometer, Gomez pulled away for the victory, punctuating his 1:54:13 finish with a race-best 30:42 run which was precisely 21 seconds faster than Brownlee and which accounted for all of Gomez’s margin of victory and 1 second more.
Perhaps the difference on this day stemmed from the fact that this was Jonny Brownlee’s first race of the season and Gomez was already in form after a win at the Panama 70.3 race and a close second to Mola at the New Plymouth World Cup sprint. Not to forget that Gomez was undefeated on the Auckland course after wins in 2012 and 2013.
“It was another great race here in New Zealand,” said Gomez. “I felt really good all the time. I felt really good in the water and the bike was really hard. Some of us worked pretty hard to keep the gap between the second group. On the run I tried many times to drop Jonathan, he was pretty strong. But on the last lap I had something left.”
“To be honest, he destroyed me today,” said Brownlee. “It’s my first race of the season and he absolutely killed me… Well done to him.”
A minute and a half behind the two lead characters, Australians Aaron Royle, Dan Wilson and Ryan Bailie finished 3-4-5 and Ryan Sissons of New Zealand took 6th and probably nailed down a Commonwealth Games berth.
“I was pretty confident in my in my sprint finish,” said Royle, who won the Under 23 world title on this Auckland course in 2012. “So I tried to go with about 2.5k to go, but they hung on. So I just thought, no, I’m just going to save it for that final 100 and luckily I got the win for third.”
Mola made up for his disappointing start with a 3rd-fastest 31:09 run, which brought him home 8th. But it was not the challenge to Gomez's dominance that some anticipated after edging his countryman at the New Plymouth sprint.
Auckland World Triathlon Series
Auckland, New Zealand
April 6, 2014
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Men
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:54:13
2. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 1:54:33
3. Aaron Royle (AUS) 1:55:49
4. Dan Wilson (AUS) 1:55:51
5. Ryan Bailie (AUS) 1:55:58
6. Ryan Sissons (NZL) 1:56:22
7. Vincent Luis (FRA) 1:56:29
8. Mario Mola (ESP) 1:56:36
9. Richard Varga (SVK) 1:56:37
10. Gregor Buchholz (GER) 1:56:39
28. Joe Maloy (USA) 1:59:07
43. William Huffman (USA) 2:03:04
