Final: Following his sprint finish at the Athens Olympic Games test event, Rasmus Henning left little doubt about his tremendous kick as he pulled away from Eneko Llanos in the finish straight to win his first European Championship title, with Llanos 2nd. Daniel Unger outsprinted his teammate Maik Petzold to take the final step on the podium. Jose Maria Echevarria, President of the Spanish Olympic Committee presented the medals to the owmen, with Marisol Casado, President of the European Triathlon Union presented the medals to the men.

Run: Last Lap:Llanos and Henning - still together at front. Unger and Pezold have moved into 3rd and 4th - 46 seconds back. Ivan Rana, Reto Hug and Javier Gomez are next - 65 seconds back .....setting up for an exciting finish

Run: 5km: Eneko Llanos continues to run at the front 1 stride ahead of Henning. Kaskolka is in 3rd, 35 seconds back, with Zeebroek and Rehula a further 10 seconds behind. Petzold and Unger are gaining on the leaders and are now just 65 seconds back with Ivan Rana and Javier Gomez back another 10 seconds.

Run: 2.5km Eneko Llanos has taken the lead and is one stride ahead of Rasmus Henning. Alex Zeebroek, Jan Rehula and Marek Kaskolka are running together 30 seconds behind the leader. German teammates Maik Petzold and Daniel Unger have made up time on the leaders - 1:25 back and are in 6th and 7th. Ivan Rana and Spanish teammate Jose Merchan are 1:30 back of the leaders.

Transition 2: One the last lap the group of 5 at the front increased their lead again on the chase pack and entered the transition area with a 1:26 lead on the chase pack. It was Marek Jaskolka of Poland, making his first appearance in the European Championships who was first onto the 4 lap run course. Zeebroek, Llanos, Rehula and Henning exited in that order. German teammates, Maik Petzold and Daniel Unger led the chase pack into transition with Ivan Rana on their heels.

Bike: 30km: the group of 5 at the front are flying....putting 20 seconds on the big chase pack on the 6th lap. They are now 1 minute ahead and do not appear to be slowing down. Ivan Rana of Spain has moved to the front of the chase pack and is trying to get things organised to make up some time of the leaders.

Bike: 25km: A hard working group of 5 has formed from the 2 breakaway attempts - including Marek Jaskolka of Poland, Rasmus Henning, Alex Zeebroek, Jan Rehula of the Czech Republic, and Eneko Llanos. They put over 30 seconds on the big pack on the 5th lap and are working very well at the front.

Bike: 20km There was a changing of the guard at the front as the leaders were caught by another breakaway group of 4 led by Rasmus Henning of Denmark, Eneko Llanos of Spain and Alex Zeebroek of Belgium. They have a 7 second lead on Martin Krnaveck of Czech Republic and Stephane Poulat of France. The big pack is still hanging on to the new leaders and is currently being led by Marcin Wedlarski of Sweden, only 4 seconds back of Poulat.

Bike: 15km: Merchan and Poulat caught Bignet on the 3rd lap to form a group of 3 at the front. However the big chase pack is organised and is closing in on the leaders and threaten to swallow them up.

Bike: 10km: Stephan Bignet of France is attempting a breakaway and has a lead of 12 seconds on the huge chase pack. Jose Merchan of Spain and Stephan Poulat of France have broken off the front of the big chase pack are attempting to bridge to the solo leader at the front. The big pack, which also includes Ivan Rana and some of his Spanish teammates appears to be keeping the attempted breakaway in control.

Swim: 1 lap, 1500 metres: The winner of the 2003 ITU World Cup Series, Vladimir Polikarpenko of the Ukraine led the strong field through the entire swim, and exited the water with most of France's top athletes on his heels. Most of the entire field was out of the water in just under 23 seconds and onto the 8 lap bike course. Ukraine's Anrij Gluchenko and France's Frank Bignet, Carl Blasco, Stephane Poulat and Frederic Belaubre were all at the front of the field as they started the first lap. The defending European Champion, Ivan Rana of Spain was in 32nd place as he left the transition, but still in touch with the leaders. The huge peleton completed the 1st lap in just under 8 minutes, with the French athletes at the front working hard and threatening to break away.

Pre-Race: 28 of European countries with a total of 73 athletes started the men's 2004 ITU Regional Triathlon Championships. This event will determine 1 place for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, as well as three places in the upcoming Madeira ITU World Championships.

Conditions for the event have deteriorated since the women's event with an increase in the wind, and rain threatens. Air temperature is 16oC, water is 170C with a strong offshore wind.