Gemmell and Dodds fail to fire in Spanish heat

In a complete role reversal from the opening Dextro Energy ITU World Champs Series race in Korea, the New Zealand men failed to fire in race two in Madrid this morning New Zealand time, unable to back up the stunning win from Christchurch’s Andrea Hewitt in the women’s race.

Neither Kris Gemmell (Palmerston North) nor Tony Dodds (Wanaka) was able to finish the race with Gemmell dropping off the lead group early in the bike before withdrawing after 3 of the 8 laps. While no details are available at this stage it is thought Gemmell had not shaken the lingering effects of a bout of food poisoning in the days leading up to the race.

Dodds struggled to stay with the pace in his first World Champs Series start, eventually withdrawing on the 7th of the 8 laps of the bike while in 37th place. Again no further details are available at this time regarding Tony’s withdrawal.

The race was won with spectacular ease by Alistair Brownlee (GBR) with the youngster running away from Courtney Atkinson (AUS) and local favourite Javier Gomez (SPN).

As was the case with the women earlier, conditions in Madrid were difficult for racing with temperatures into the 30’s.

Earlier in the day the New Zealand women rebounded from their disappointment in Korea with Hewitt winning from Lisa Norden (SWE) in a sprint finish that required a 5 minute study of the photo finish.

Sam Warriner cut out the quickest run split of the day to finish in 7th while Nicky Samuels was 14th.

Dextro Energy ITU World Champs Series

Madrid, Spain

Elite Men

1 Alistair Brownlee GBR 1:51:27

2 Courtney Atkinson AUS 1:52:14

3 Javier Gomez ESP 1:52:19

4 Maik Petzold GER 1:52:32

5 Ivan Vasiliev RUS 1:52:39

DNF Kris Gemmell NZL

DNF Tony Dodds NZL