Hayes superb in Kitzbühel
Stuart Hayes took his best win to date at the ITU Dextro Energy World Championship Series triathlon in Kitzbühel, Austria. After getting in a breakaway group of five on the bike, Hayes ran away from the other four and held off all other challengers. Several contenders received 15 second penalties, but even without those penalties Hayes was just too strong today.
After heavy rain and cool temperatures leading up to the event, the weather in Kitzbühel finally turned around as 65 men dove into the Schwarzsee for round 6 of the 2010 WCS series. Dmitry Polyansky set the pace under sunny skies with Frederic Belaubre, Maik Petzold and Alexander Brukhankov right with him. But the swim leaders weren't able to gain any significant lead and by the time they reached the first transition a huge pack of men was getting ready to head out on the bikes.
Most of the contenders were among the 47 men in the big lead bunch, only 6th ranked Jarrod Shoemaker had missed making that group. Several breaks were formed during the first few laps with Alistair Brownlee, Kris Gemmell and Javier Gomez among those trying to give it ago. But it wasn't until halfway through the bike segment when a 5 man break finally got away and slowly built a nice gap. In that break were Matt Chrabot, Greg Bennett, Christian Prochnow, Maik Petzold and Stuart Hayes. This lead bunch of five extended their advantage to just about a minute with 15k to go and seemed to be working well together. The main pack made a few lukewarm efforts to reel in the leaders but too many athletes in that group were content to just sit in, and by the time the 5 reached T2 their gap had grown to 1:43.
Hayes charged into the lead as soon as they left the transition area as Petzold returned to his transition spot to place his helmet correctly in the bin, seemingly well aware of the possible penalty. Chrabot and Prochnow stayed with Hayes initially but the determined Brit started to pull away. Petzold reeled in his fellow German shortly after as Bennett meanwhile was dealt a 15 second penalty for a helmet placement infraction. Gomez, Brownlee and current world number one Jan Frodeno were chasing hard and gaining serious time on the 5 men ahead of them, but among those 3 contenders only Frodeno's number wasn't on the penalty board. More misplaced helmets were the culprit here too. Brownlee was first to take his penalty, and soon after drifted out of contention. Gomez meanwhile had charged into second place with a nice gap on Frodeno and Chrabot before he finally stood down for his 15 seconds stop and go. Once out of the penalty box, the Spaniard quickly re-passed Chrabot and Frodeno for second place but Hayes was gone and would have been out of reach even without the 15 second penalty. Hayes crossed the line first and grabbed the most important win of his career and should have helped his Olympic aspirations. Gomez crossed the line in second and Frodeno finished third. Chrabot held on to fourth place and with it recorded his best WCS result to date.
"We had a plan, I was gonna attack on the the third lap on the bike," said Hayes after the race. "I was either going to come first or last."
ITU Dextro Energy WCS Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel, Austria / August 14, 2010
Top 10 men
1. Stuart Hayes (GBR) 1:52:32
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:53:04
3. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:53:21
4. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:53:35
5. Maik Petzold (GER) 1:53:37
6. Sebastian Rank (GER) 1:53:39
7. Joao Silva (POR) 1:53:44
8. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:53:47
9. David Hauss (FRA) 1:53:51
10. Crisanto Grajales (MEX) 1:53:55
Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU WCS Rankings
(after race 6 of 7)
1. Jan Frodeno (GER) 2910
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 2679
3. Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 2388
4. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 2233
5. Steffen Justus (GER) 2112
