As per the earlier women's race, conditions were nigh on perfect for the men at Yokohama today, with the typhoon of the day before leaving calm warm waters and an air temperature of 24 degrees for the ITU World Series Triathlon.
Joao Silva (POR) repeated his success from last year in winning ahead of Javier Gomez (ESP) and Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS). And while the day didn't pan out as he might have hoped, Kris Gemmell (Palmerston North) did at least have a cash consolation after winning a half share in the ITU bike leg bonus.
New Zealand's Bryce McMaster (still racing under the ITU as he awaits his transfer to New Zealand) swam superbly, exiting the water alongside Gomez in 5th place while Gemmell was a little further back alongside good friend and partner to Andrea Hewitt, Laurent Vidal (FRA).
Any suggestion of a breakaway by a lead group of 7 was quickly dispelled as Gemmell, Vidal and Sven Reiderer (SUI) drove the chasers into a large lead group by the end of the first lap of 8 on the bike. The completely flat course wasn't helping either, with no one prepared to push the pace or take any risks too early in the day.
But with a USD$20,000 bonus for any group of five or fewer athletes to lead at the end of the bike by 50 seconds or more Gemmell made his move with one and a half laps left on the bike, taking Yuichi Hosada (JPN) with him in a daring move to break the field. That moved proved perfect in its execution, with the time gap measured at exactly 50 seconds at the end of the bike, leaving Gemmell and Hosada to share the bonus money.
The effort proved crucial for the Kiwi though as the 34 year old immediately struggled on the run, clutching at his side in obvious distress and with Gomez leading the chasers in a desperate attempt to close the gap on World Series leader Jonathan Brownlee, the gap was never going to be enough. It was nonetheless a typically gutsy move from the Palmerston North athlete.
Heading into the final 2.5km lap it was Silva and Gomez side by side just a few metres ahead of a fast closing Polyanskiy as the leading three gapped the chasers. Despite hitting a cone and almost crashing midway through the bike and quickly remounting to join the lead group, Gomez was pushing himself and the others to the limit, constantly surging and eventually dropping the Russian. But a recent lack of running due to a foot injury caught up with the Spaniard and Silva was the stronger in the closing stages, kicking clear to back up his win here last year.
The points though see Gomez close the gap on World Series points leader Jonathan Brownlee and set up a fascinating end to the season at the Barfoot & Thompson ITU Grand Final in Auckland on Labour Weekend.
Result: ITU World Triathlon Series, Yokohama, Japan
Elite Men
1 Joao Silva POR 1:48:44
2 Javier Gomez ESP 1:48:57
3 Dmitry Polyanskiy RUS 1:49:10
4 Laurent Vidal FRA 1:49:22
5 David Hauss FRA 1:49:33
Plus
28 Kris Gemmell NZL 1:54:04*
35 Bryce McMaster ITU 2:00:07**
*Gemmell shares $20,000 USD bonus with Hosada
** Awaiting transfer to NZL
ITU World Series Points
1 Jonathan Brownlee GBR 3825
2 Javier Gomez ESP 3645
3 Alexander Bryukhankov RUS 3285
Plus NZers
14 Bevan Docherty NZL 1787
15 Kris Gemmell NZL 1781
22 Ryan Sissons NZL 1374
41 Clark Ellice NZL 1029
