Showing no ill effects from months of rehab for a stress fracture, 2009 World Championship Series champion Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain sprinted away from Aussie Courtney Atkinson on the final lap to win the third round of the Dextro Energy 2010 World Championship Series in Madrid Sunday.
At the finish, Brownlee hit the tape first in 1:52:41, with Atkinson taking the runner-up position 10 seconds back. Sven Riederer of Switzerland, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, took third in 1:53:08, 10 seconds ahead of 4th place Javier Gomez of Spain, the 2008 ITU World Champion.
The win underlined Brownlee’s current dominance of the ITU circuit, continuing his perfect 5-for-5 World Championship Series record last year despite suffering a femoral stress fracture this February.
“Coming into this race, I definitely did not think I had a win in me,” said Brownlee. “This race was tougher than anything I have done and I am very proud of this win.”
Brownlee said that the breakaway on the bike was key to the win. “I really wanted that break to succeed and we all worked very hard on that hill to make the gap,” said Brownlee on the ITU Internet broadcast.
The breakaway was crucial to Brownlee’s win as Jan Frodeno scored the fastest run but had to be satisfied with winning a finish line sprint with Joao Silva of Portugal for 5th place.
“Last year Alistair showed a dominance by a single athlete similar only to [5-time ITU World Champion] Simon Lessing of the past,” said Atkinson, who finished second and lost a similar last lap sprint to 2008 Olympic champion Jan Frodeno of Germany at the World Championship Series round two last month in Seoul. Atkinson admitted that Brownlee was likely not at his best but still had enough in the tank to dominate for the second year in a row in the 32 degrees Celsius heat of Madrid. “I’m pretty happy with this race,” he added.
“For me this third place was a like a victory,” said Riederer.
Jarrod Shoemaker led the American men with a 9th place in 1:54:27.
Dextro Energy World Championship Series Madrid
Madrid Spain
June 5, 2010
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Elite Men
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:52:41
2. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:52:51
3. Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:53:08
4. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:53:18
5. Steffen Justus (GER) 1:53:40
6. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:54:00
7. Joao Silva (POR) 1:54:00
8. Dimitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:54:22
9. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:54:27
10. Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 1:54:32
14. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:54:55
38. Ben Collins (USA) 1:57:56
41. Brian Fleischmann (USA) 1:58:22
48. Manny Huerta (USA) 2:00:08
