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In a spectacular finish Filip Ospaly of the Czech Republic out-sprinted hometown favourite Javier Gomez of Spain to claim the gold medal in today’s Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup. Climbing back from an almost 90-second deficit after the bike Ospaly and Gomez would run side-by-side for the entire ten kilometres with the young Gomez, dropping everyone except the Czech. But, with his renowned sprinting speed, the 30-year-old Ospaly would pull away only a few metres before the line to take his third world cup win in a time of 1:55:47. To the delights of thousands of spectators, another Spaniard, Ivan Raña, finished close behind in third.
A long line of 29 athletes exited the 2-lap lake swim together and formed a large lead group over the 8-lap bike course. They would eventually be joined by another 12 athletes to form one massive group. Leading the group was current Under23 world champion Will Clarke from Great Britain until a faulty wheel would buckle under him bringing him and world second ranked Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia down. Both would eventually call it a day, retiring from the race, and taking two of the sport’s top runners out of contention.
It was not until late in the 40-kilometre bike before a 3-man break-away containing Stuart Hayes of Great Britain, Axel Zeebroek of Belgium and Didier Brocard of Switzerland would get away, increasing their lead to almost 90 seconds. This would not last, however, as they would eventually be caught during the run.
In his usual fashion, the former Under23 world champion Gomez, moved quickly to the front of the run taking only a handful of athletes with him. Over the 4-lap run course the athletes would begin to drop off, unable to keep up the torrid pace, until only the two remained with 300 metres to go. This is when last year’s champion, Gomez, would go, pulling ahead. Not surprised, Ospaly responded and, to the disappointment of the crowd, passed the Spaniard with only 30 metres to go.
Close behind was Raña with two Germans, Daniel Unger and Maik Petzold, rounding out the top five, respectively.
2007 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Men results
1. Ospaly, Filip (CZE) 1:55:47
2. Gomez, Javier (ESP) 1:55:52 +:05
3. Rana, Ivan (ESP) 1:56:08 +:21
4. Unger, Daniel (GER) 1:56:11 +:24
5. Petzold, Maik, (GER) 1:56:14 +:27
6. Don, Tim (GBR) 1:56:25 +:38
7. Frodeno, Jan (GER) 1:56:30 +:43
8. Vidal, Laurent (FRA) 1:56:36 +:49
9. Dehmer, Sebastian (GER) 1:56:42 +:55
10. Hayes, Stuart (GBR) 1:56:48 +1:01
Complete results at: Triathlon.org.
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