Brownlee, Brownlee in Hamburg
On a stunning beautiful day in Hamburg, Germany the Brownlee brothers pulled away from Javier Gomez late in the 5km run and sprinted side-by-side to the finish with Jonathan Brownlee in the end getting the better of his older brother. Gomez though hung on to the final podium spot.
This important race weekend where 10,000 triathletes come together, and an estimated 250,000 spectators line the course, Richard Varga was first out of the water of the Binnenalster but Henry Schoeman, the Brownlee brothers and Javier Gomez were right there on this non wetsuit swim in the 24.5 C (76.1F) temperature water.
The outside temperature was just a few degrees warmer and the pace set by the Brownlee brothers and Gomez on the bike created a front group of nine that slowly pulled away. Behind them Sven Riederer and Jan Frodeno worked very hard to close that gap, but there was clearly more horse power up front or at the very least more horse power willing to work. The lead group of nine also had a few passengers who were not contributing to the pace but that did not stop the feverish effort. It however angered the older Brownlee.
"I wanted to get away on the bike and push on and we managed to do that but the other guys in the group didn't work with us," said Alistair Brownlee. "If any of them want to learn how to ride a bike, ring me up and I'll give them some tips because they didn't know what they were doing out there today."
The second group on the road seemingly dealt with a similar dilemma and Frodeno was vocal about the cooperation situation where according to the Olympic champion only Riederer assisted in the effort to bridge up to the Brownlees and company.
Out on the run it was Henry Schoeman who ran with the Brownlees and Gomez, but the young South African was first to get dropped. Most of the run Alistair Brownlee sat at the tail of the leading trio but towards the end he moved up and quickly Gomez looked to be in trouble. The World Triathlon Series leader hung tough but the elastic was getting stretched more and more. Jonathan Brownlee opened up the sprint but Alistair moved past him with what looked to be the winning move, but Jonathan found one more gear and beat his brother to the line in 51:05.
"He was hanging on through the whole run. Alistair doesn’t like to run behind people, he likes to run upfront. I got to the last bit and he got past me. I was pretty feeling comfortable," said Jonathan Brownlee. "I was thinking the whole way round I couldn’t remember if I was meant to finish on the right hand side or the left hand side but it was all good."
Alistair Brownlee also finished in 51:05 and earned the silver medal, and Javier Gomez crossed the line in 51:14 to take the final podium spot and extend his lead in the 2013 World Triathlon Series.
"I think I went a bit too early on that last corner. I was a bit confident but Jonny is a clever old sod and he kept a bit back," said Alistair Brownlee.
World Triathlon Series Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany / 20th July 2013
750m swim / 20km bike / 5km run
Top Men
1. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 51:05
2. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 51:05
3. Javier Gomez (ESP) 51:14
4. Richard Murray (RSA) 51:42
5. Mario Mola (ESP) 51:46
6. Sven Rieder (SUI) 51:50
7. Aurelien Raphael (FRA) 51:53
8. Alessandro Fabian (ITA) 51:55
9. Ryan Sissons (NZL) 52:00
10. Jan Frodeno (GER) 52:02
