Alex Yee showed his class to see off Hayden Wilde in Cagliari and make it two wins in two starts in the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series.
But the Brit has his work cut out to hold off his Kiwi rival over the 10km run before finally breaking away around the final bend to stop the clock in a phenomenally fast time of 1:36:28 for a standard distance event.
The pair were followed down the blue carpet by a trio of Frenchmen led by reigning world champion Leo Bergere, ahead of Pierre Le Corre and Dorian Coninx. Britain's other starters were Barclay Izzard, who fought his way up to finish 26th, and Jonny Brownlee, who was in contention coming into T2, but faded to 35th.
How the race unfolded
The race in Sardinia represented the third stop on the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series, after stopovers at Abu Dhabi in March and Yokohama a fortnight ago.
It was also the most talent-packed men’s race in the series so far, with 50 World Series wins between the field. Yee and Wilde with one 2023 WTCS win apiece were going head-to-head, with both Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt and world champion Bergere present, and the return of veterans Brownlee and Mario Mola.
Portugal's Vasco Vilaca led the series coming into Cagliari ahead of the French duo, Coninx and Bergere, but Yee had won his only start to date in Abu Dhabi, and was handily placed with the best four scores counting, plus bonus points from the final race in Pontevedra.
Olympic gold and silver medallist Yee, 25, had contrasting fortunes in his previous visits to Sardinia. A career-threatening crash left him with a broken spine and collapsed lung in 2017, but he won last year’s WTCS here, beating team-mate Brownlee into second with Brazilian Manoel Messias in third.
What happened in the swim?
It was a beach start for the 1,500m non-wetsuit swim in the warm waters of the Mediterranean, and South Africans Henri Schoeman and Jamie Riddle dashed through the surf to take an early lead. It was almost the worst possible start for Yee though, who tripped on the sand and found himself immediately at the back.
Coninx took the lead midway through the first lap of two, followed onto the beach for the Australian exit by Riddle and Schoeman. Yee made a remarkable recovery to be only 12sec down.
Hungarian Mark Devay then forged his way to the front to lead out of the water, followed by Riddle and Coninx, with Brownlee 13sec back and Yee and Wilde in close attendance. Gustav Iden, Murray and Mola brought up the final three places, with Mola retiring when he reached T1.
Another casualty was Japan’s Takumi Hojo, who was disqualified for cutting the course, but elected to continue onto the bike leg while his support team launched an appeal.
What happened on the bike?
The 10-lap 38km bike course was pan-flat with a few technical sections and occasional crosswinds for the triathletes to negotiate. After a couple of frenetic early laps, a front group of 24 established a 30sec gap on the field, with Blummenfelt in the second of two chase groups, along with other big names such as Jelle Geens and the USA’s Matt McElroy and Morgan Pearson.
The gap kept drifting out lap-on-lap as the pace at the front stayed on. Further back, Murray DNFd and Ironman world champion Iden slipped to minutes off the pace.
The lead group kept switching turns on the front and with the likes of the fast-running Yee, Wilde, Vilaca and Bergere in their number, it looked clear that the podium would emerge from those upfront.
Coming into T2 there was a gap of 68sec to the chasers, who were now competing for the minor places.
What happened on the run?
It was a familiar sight to see Jonas Schomburg show on the run, building up an immediate lead. Yee, Wilde, Le Corre and Bergere gave pursuit, eventually reeling in the tall German by the end of the first lap of four. Brownlee fell quickly off the early pace.
Into lap two, it was quickly the Wilde versus Yee showdown many predicted, with the pair running side–by-side as they put daylight between themselves Schomburg and the French duo of Le Corre and Bergere.
It was nip and tuck until the final 200m when Yee broke away approaching the final bend and Wilde couldn’t respond. Bergere finished third, 36sec back ahead of Coninx, Le Corre and Schomburg. Blummenfelt managed to run himself up to 15th after a strong 10km.
Yee defended his record of never having been beaten by Wilde when they had both finished a World Series race, and said afterwards: "It was really fun, I just enjoyed being back racing. It was a real honest race from gun-to-tape. I wanted to swim hard, bike hard and run hard and that's how I like to race. I always get the rep of being a good runner, but I want to be known as a triathlete."
Olympic bronze medallist Wilde said: "I had to get the Dyson out because I was quite dusty after Yokohama, but that's the racing I love. There was a point there when we were working beautifully [on the bike]. It came down to the run and it was a ding-dong battle on the front. There were a couple of times when I attacked, and then he attacked and he got me at the end. We'll have to wait until next time."
WTCS Cagliari men’s results
- Alex Yee; 1:36:28
- Hayden Wilde; 1:36:33
- Leo Bergere; 1:37:04
- Dorian Coninx; 1:37:15
- Pierre Le Corre; 1:37:21
- Jonas Schomburg; 1:37:39
- Csongor Lehmann; 1:37:52
- Vasco Vilaca; 1:37:58
- Kenji Nener; 1:38:00
- Lase Luhrs; 1:38:04
WTCS standings
- Dorian Coninx
- Vasco Vilaca
- Leo Bergere
- Hayden Wilde
- Alex Yee
Top image credit: Janos M Schmidt/World Triathlon
