Gomez wins #10 in Spain
In front of an enthusiastic rain soaked home crowd, Javier Gomez won the 2008 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup, the 200th in ITU history. With this victory he joined Brad Beven, Hamish Carter and Simon Whitfield as men with 10 World Cup titles to their names.
Stephane Poulat (FRA) and Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) emerged from the water first followed by Gomez and a host of possible contenders. But they were not “out of the water “ yet as a torrential rainstorm hammered the athletes during the bike segment. Several athletes withdrew from the race as the rain also created hazardous and cold conditions. Eventually though a group of 20 that included most favorites rode into T2 together.
Vasiliev was first out on the run but Alistair Brownlee, Will Clarke and Gomez were not far behind. Soon though Gomez increased his pace and started to leave the others behind. He cruised to the finish line with a time of 1:56:25 and thus earned his 3rd World Cup title of the year, his 10th of his career plus he reclaimed the world number one ranking. Vasiliev finished second and Brownlee held on for third. Tim Don just missed out on the podium but both he and Brownlee helped their Olympic hopes. Christian Prochnow of Germany finished fifth and clinched the last spot on the German Olympic team, joining Daniel Unger and Jan Frodeno.
2008 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup, Spain
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Top 10 men
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:56:25
2. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:56:44
3. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:56:54
4. Tim Don (GBR) 1:57:04
5. Christian Prochnow (GER) 1:57:13
6. Will Clarke (GBR) 1:57:16
7. Maik Petzold (GER) 1:57:24
8. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:57:39
9. Steffen Justus (GER) 1:57:41
10. Matt Reed (USA) 1:58:09
