Aussie Brendan Sexton stormed to the win at the 2011 Monterrey ITU World Cup and held of French Pro Frederic Belaubre and American Hunter Kemper. After a runner-up spot in Mooloolaba, Sexton now stepped up to the very top spot.
French athletes led by Aurelien Raphael took charge during the swim and came into the swim-bike transition taking the top 3 spots.
Once on the bikes a pack of about 40 athletes developed containing all of the favorites, including 2011 Ishigaki World Cup winner Hunter Kemper from the USA and 2007 ITU World Champion Daniel Unger from Germany. There were a few attempts to get away but by the the 20k mark of the race the bunch had grown to 69. So pretty much the whole field was back together. With 10k to go on the bike nothing much had changed and despite a late effort by Fabio Carvalho from Brazil the bunch reached T2 together led by Mexican Pro Arturo Garza.
Once on the run Hunter Kemper started to set the pace and the group was quickly down to a small group athletes. With the temperatures starting to get really hot, hanging tough with Kemper were Brendan Sexton (AUS), Matt Chrabot (USA), Frederic Belaubre (FRA), Vincent Luis (FRA), Rudi Wild (SUI) and Jarrod Shoemaker (USA). But halfway through the run Sexton started to make his move and only Belaubre and Wild were able to hang on, but in the end the young Aussie proved to be too strong and took the win. Belaubre took second place and Kemper fought back to take third.
"It was a tough race with the heat and also a very technical bike and swim. The narrow swim course really strung us out and then I came down on the bike after touching wheels. I was lucky to have no serious damage and got off the bike near the front," said Sexton to slowtwitch. "It was just a matter of waiting until the heat hurt everyone and making a move. I like the heat so I was able to hang on the longest."
Monterrey ITU World Cup
Monterrey, Mexico / May 8, 2011
1.5k swim / 40k bike / 10k run
Top men
1. Brendan Sexton (AUS) 1:46:56
2. Frederic Belaubre (FRA) 1:47:06
3. Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:47:11
4. Rudi Wild (SUI) 1:47:20
5. Luis Vincent (FRA) 1:47:27
6. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:47:37
7. Danylo Sapunov (UKR) 1:47:39
8. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:47:50
9. Javier Quinchara (COL) 1:47:51
10. Tony Dodds (NZL) 1:47:52
