Even with the Brownlee brothers not present, a very good field had assembled at the season opening WTS event in Auckland, New Zealand and not surprisingly it was Richard Varga who led the field out of the water after the 1,500 meter non wetsuit swim in 17:34. He though had all those who planned to contend for the podium right on his heels.

Javier Gomez led the bunch out of T1 and initially there were only 15 athletes in that lead group. Slowly though the bunch started to grow as more athletes managed to fight their way to the front. Several crashes caused havoc and Joao Perreira, Richard Varga and Kyle Jones were among those who paid the highest price, but no one was severely injured. With about 15k to go in the bike segment Mario Mola flatted and he managed to claw his way back to the now 27 athlete strong front group. A last desperate breakaway effort by Aussie Ryan Bailie and Brit Stuart Hayes allowed these two athletes to gain a few seconds into the bike-run transition, with the main bunch led by American Matt Chrabot only about 7 seconds adrift. Bailie had a swift transition and managed to get out on the run with a small advantage, but Hayes was already swallowed up in transition.

Spaniards Gomez and Mola and Kiwi Tony Dodds set the early pace during the run, soon though it was down to Gomez and Mola. With about 5k to go in the run Gomez turned on the afterburners and pulled away from his countryman with a closing 29:36 effort. That added another win to his 2013 season resume, as earlier this year Gomez had already taken the Mooloolaba ITU Workd Cup and he also had dominated the non drafting Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Mario Mola held on to second place and Joao Silva dropped Laurent Vidal late to grab the final podium spot.

"It was a pretty good day, I had a good swim and was solid on the bike then my team mate Mario, made me run really fast and so happy for him making his first podium," said Gomez.


ITU World Triathlon Series Auckland
Auckland, NZL / April 6, 2013
1.5k swim / 40k bike / 10k run

Top men

1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:55:51
2. Mario Mola (ESP) 1:56:03
3. Joao Silva (POR) 1:56:22
4. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:56:33
5. Matthew Sharp (GBR) 1:56:51
6. Aaron Royle (AUS) 1:56:55
7. Tony Dodds (NZL) 1:57:11
8. Ryan Bailie (AUS) 1:57:13
9. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:57:17
10. Cameron Good (AUS) 1:57:23