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Cancun,
Mexico - For immediate release: Jill Savege of Canada, in her first
World Cup since the Athens Olympic Games, led the women's field through
the first of 2 laps on the 1500 swim, and then dropped back on the second
lap.
It was Leanda Cave of Great Britain, the 2002 World Champion, who exited
the water first and sped through transition onto the 8 lap, 40km bike
course. Cave was followed by Sandra Soldan of Brazil, Liz Blatchford
of Britain, Anja Dittmer of Germany - the current World Cup leader,
and Julie Swail of the USA.
An unfortunate crash on the first lap took both Leanda Cave and Annabel
Luxford of Australia out of the event, which ended both their hopes
of moving up the World Cup rankings.
After the crash, a group of 5 took over the lead which included Dittmer,
Swail, Soldan, Tara Ross of Canada and Joanna Zeiger of the USA.
The chase pack included Canadian team-mates Jill Savege and Carol Montgomery,
Silvia Gemignani of Italy, and Liz Blatchford of Britain. Also in that
group was Megali Di Marco Messmer of Switzerland making her first appearance
in World Cup racing since her bronze medal win at the 2000 Sydney Olympic
Games.
The second chase pack also included some of the "who's who"
of World Cup racing such as Andrea Whitcombe of Britain, Ana Burgos
of Spain, Samantha McGlone of Canada and Nadia Cortassa of Italy.
The groups played a cautious game following the crash on the first lap,
except for the 2nd chase group who pulled out all the stops in an effort
to catch up after the swim. Led by the top cyclists in the group, Samantha
McGlone and Ana Burgos, they caught the 2nd pack on the 6th lap and
used the momentum to close in on the leaders.
By the bell lap the large chase pack was just under 2 minutes behind.
Anja Dittmer was the first one from the group of 5 at the front to pass
through the bike to run transition and onto the 4 lap, 10km run course.
Tara Ross of Canada was second out followed by Sandra Soldan, Joanna
Zeiger and Julie Swail.
Zeiger led through the first lap of the run with Dittmer sitting on
her shoulder, as Sandra Soldan, Tara Ross, Julie Swail dropped off the
pace.
The chase pack was led through transition by Liz Blatchford, who set
off on the run course at a serious pace. On the first lap she closed
the gap to the leaders by 40 seconds and appeared to be on her way to
catching them. The trio of Carol Montgomery, Nadia Cortassa and Samantha
McGlone were trying hard to keep pace with Blatchford.
On the second lap Sandra Soldan joined Zeiger and Dittmer at the front,
but dropped back again through the third lap as Dittmer played a cat
and mouse game with the veteran America.
Liz
Blatchford was unable to stay the pace she set during the 1st lap and
was joined by Carol Montgomery and Samantha McGlone, who together had
reeled the leaders in to a 1 minute gap.
As the bell rang signaling the final lap, Joanna Zeiger was still in
the lead with Anja Dittmer velcroed to her shoulder as Sandra Soldan
dropped off the pace. Meanwhile Samantha McGlone moved into 4th position
overtaking her team-mate Tara Ross.
On the last lap, Dittmer did what she has done so often before - she
found that hidden gear and moved the pace up on Zeiger who was not able
to respond. She romped home to take her 3rd World Cup win by 16 seconds
and an almost unbeatable lead in the World Cup Series. Soldan held off
a surging McGlone for 3rd and Liz Blatchford rounded out the top 5.
Top
10 Results:
|
Place |
FAMILY NAME, Given Name |
Country |
Finish Time |
|
1 |
DITTMER,
Anja |
GER |
2:05:51 |
|
2 |
ZEIGER,
Joanna |
USA |
2:06:07 |
|
3 |
SOLDAN,
Sandra |
BRA |
2:06:24 |
|
4 |
McGLONE,
Samantha |
CAN |
2:06:35 |
|
5 |
BLATCHFORD,
Liz |
GBR |
2:06:47 |
|
6 |
BURGOS,
Ana |
ESP |
2:06:53 |
|
7 |
MONTGOMERY,
Carol |
CAN |
2:07:22 |
|
8 |
CORTASSA,
Nadia |
ITA |
2:07:32 |
|
9 |
SAVEGE,
Jill |
CAN |
2:07:54 |
|
10 |
ROSS,
Tara |
CAN |
2:07:57 |
In
the men's event Brazil's Paulo Miyashiro was at his usual position at
the front of the men's swim followed by Courtney Atkinson from Australia
and Marko Albert from Estonia.
The trio desperately tried to get away on the over 25 men who exited the
swim within 20 seconds of them, but they just didn't have enough time
for the slick way that the chasers breezed through their swim to bike
transition.
Bryce Quirk of Australia led the pack through the first lap with Shane
Reed of New Zealand, Courtney Atkinson and Hunter Kemper of the USA on
his tail. He tried to get someone to go with him off the front, when Mexico's
Uzziel Valderrabano took a nasty spill causing the leaders to lose their
nerve momentarily.
Joe Umphenour of the USA pushed the pace on the lead pack and then joined
forces with his American team-mate Matt Reed to make a break from the
peleton. The most they were able to muster was a 15 second gap on the
pack until Bryce Quirk put an end to their chances of getting away. Once
he caught them, he built on the momentum and rather than sitting in the
pack for a rotation he attacked and took Cedric Fleureton of France with
him. Up to this point Fleureton had been an interested observer of the
game of cat and mouse that was going on, never losing contact with any
serious breakaway attempts.
The pack led by Marko Albert bridged to the breakaway group on the 7th
lap and for a brief time everyone seemed content to wait for the run.
Not noted for his patience, Mark Fretta of the USA took matters into his
own hands on the final lap and got away from the leaders, buying himself
some clear space as he entered the transition all alone. He also posted
the fastest bike split of the day.
Fretta was clear onto the run when the "storm" of over 20 athletes
blew through transition and exited onto the run course within 10 seconds.
By the end of the 1st lap Fleureton caught Fretta as the fluidity with
which he powered his way over the flat 10km course caused many an eyebrow
to rise.
Joe Umphenour, Tim Don, Courtney Atkinson and Hunter Kemper emerged from
the pack on Fleureton's heels, but let the wiry Frenchman build up too
much of lead on the 1st lap.
Fleureton led each lap through the stadium filled with triathlon-crazy
Mexican spectators, as he seemed to draw energy from their enthusiasm.
Kemper, although on pace to pull the leader in, was never able to make
up enough ground and Fleureton swept home for his first World Cup victory.
His previous best was at the 2003 Athens Olympic Games test event where
he had that amazing sprint finish with Rasmus Henning.
Kemper took the silver medal, 13 seconds back with Tim Don rounded out
the podium, a further 16 seconds back.
Dimitri Gaag of Kazakhstan, the current World Cup leader took it easy
today with a 10th place finish, safe in the knowledge that his stranglehold
on the overall title and share of the US$100,000 bonus purse is secure.
Top
10 Results:
|
Place
|
FAMILY NAME, Given Name
|
Country
|
Finish Time
|
|
1
|
FLEURETON,
Cedric
|
FRA
|
1.54.01
|
|
2
|
KEMPER.
Hunter
|
USA
|
1.54.14
|
|
3
|
DON,
Tim
|
GBR
|
1.54.30
|
|
4
|
FRETTA,
Mark
|
USA
|
1.54.37
|
|
5
|
POLIKARPENKO,
Volodomyr
|
UKR
|
1.54.42
|
|
6
|
UMPHENOUR.
Joe
|
USA
|
1.54.46
|
|
7
|
SAPUNOV.
Daniel
|
KAZ
|
1.54.55
|
|
8
|
HAYES,
Stuart
|
GBR
|
1.55.10
|
|
9
|
PIERRECLAUD,
Samuel
|
FRA
|
1.55.17
|
|
10
|
GAAG,
Dimitri
|
KAZ
|
1.55.41
|
The next and final stop on the World Cup circuit is next weekend at the
Rio ITU World Cup on Copacabana Beach.
Although Anja Dittmer and Dimitri Gaag have pretty well wrapped up the
overall World Cup title, places 2 and 3 and the share of the $100,000us
bonus purse are still very much up for grabs, which make the final to
this highly successful 2004 World Cup most interesting.
For complete results, stories, and photos from Cancun, please visit www.triathlon.org.
For high resolution photos please contact ITU Media at: ituhdq@triathlon.org
Be sure to tune in to www.triathlon.org next weekend for event coverage
from the Rio ITU World Cup.
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