Javier Gomez began a fresh chapter in his career at the ITU World Triathlon in Abu Dhabi. The Spaniard came back from injury to win the opening race of the world race series at Yas Marina.
Running man
Gomez moved to the front at the start of the running stage and never looked back, becoming the second man on the men’s Roll of Honour list in Abu Dhabi after twice-winner Mario Mola.
Pushed to the line
Gomez was briefly overtaken at the halfway mark of the run by Britain’s Thomas Bishop but the Spaniard pulled away in the last three kilometres to win in 1 hour and 52.31 minutes. Bishop ran a gallant race for his first podium finish in an ITU event. Vincent Luis of France, returning from a 15-month layoff due to back injury, took third place ahead of a second Spaniard Fernando Alarza and Richard Murray of South Africa.
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No treble for Mola
Mola, winner of the Abu Dhabi race when it was first established in 2015 and last year, fell short of completing the hat-trick. He could only finish eighth after struggling in the opening swim stage.
Delight
Gomez, who was sixth in Abu Dhabi in 2015 but did not race last year due to injury, achieved his 37th World Triathlon Series (WTS) podium finish. “It is great to come back this way,” Gomes, the five-time world champion and silver medallist at the 2012 London Games, said. “I still had a few mistakes in the race. I did not swim very well and had a bad [transition] T2.
“But I knew that is was going to be a very tough run, and with Tom it was very technical. We slowed down a lot, just trying to save energy for the last lap and I made my move with about three kilometres to go. It worked well.”
‘Crafty’
Bishop, whose silver medal was his first in the WTS, said: “I was a bit naive to attack Gomez early on the running stage. He is a crafty man and knows what he is doing.”
apassela@thenational.ae
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