World Triathlon

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 Magali 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.

Elite Men
  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.

  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: [email protected]   Be sure to tune in to www.triathlon.org next weekend for event coverage from   the Rio ITU World Cup.

style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">