Ryan Sissons (Auckland) enjoyed his strongest performance of the season when finishing 13th at the ITU Madrid World Triathlon Series overnight NZT, in the process moving to 10th place on the overall world rankings after 4 of the 8 events this season.
 Ryan Sissons(Photo: Triathlon NZ; click to enlarge) |
Bryce McMaster (Auckland) finished back in 42nd place and Tony Dodds (Wanaka) withdrew midway through the bike but Sissons showed improvement on his form so far this season in what was by some margin the strongest field of the season so far.
Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) backed up his superb season opening win (for him) in Yokohama with another outstanding race to win going away from local hope Javier Gomez (ESP) and Ivan Vasiliev (RUS). Once these three established themselves in a lead group of five with Allesandro Fabian (ITA) and Aaron Royle (AUS) the race was all but over for the remainder of the field.
Sissons was pleased with the performance in the context of what has been a fairly average week by his own admission.
"Madrid is always a hard race from the start; it is a hard swim, an unrelenting bike and hold on for the run. Simply it was a hard race and that is the way I like it. I have been feeling pretty average for the past week or so and had a lot of rest this week to be ready so the run was not as good as I can run but it was solid.
"I have a good block of training next four or five weeks before Kitzbuhel and will continue to work hard and be ready for what looms as an exciting race. I am making progress though. The swim was an improvement and I came out where I was aiming for, I set some realistic goals to be with the main group. I did have a poor transition though, losing ten seconds but I was where I needed to be and got in a good working group, rode up to second group and did enough to register a decent performance on a tough course."
Tri NZ National Coach Greg Fraine says there is still more to come from Sissons on a day when his form showed improvement.
"Ryan's swim was a progression in the right direction, I would like him to be further up of course but today was a solid performance and a progression. It was a tough field and bloody hard racing, they are smashing it for the whole race which is great for the sport."
Fraine is not yet sure what led to Dodds withdrawal but saw signs throughout the week that the Wanaka athlete was not himself.
"Tony has been a little quiet for the past week and not feeling 100%. We may have underestimated the effect of the travel on him. All reports in Cambridge were that he was tracking well and feeling good. He certainly had a good swim and put himself in right place but up the first hill he popped off the back and couldn't stay with any of the packs."
Dodds was the leading Kiwi out of the water but couldn't stay in contact with the leaders through the 300m run to the first transition and dropped back into the main chase group that included Sissons. McMaster meanwhile was in the third group and losing time with each lap around the hilly Madrid course as the lead group of five were driven by the power and class of Brownlee and Gomez but with plenty of assistance from the likes of Vasiliev, Royle and Fabian.
Dodds' day was soon over, withdrawing midway through the bike leg on a day when the pace was just too quick for the 25 year old. He was far from alone though; the attrition rate was high as the relentless pace took its toll on the field.
