Stuart Hayes achieved the best result of his long career with a win at the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series Kitzbuehel on Saturday. He attacked to open a 1min 43second lead over the chasing pack on the bike and ran away with the win.
Hayes, 31, rode a similarly attacking ride in Hyde Park, and this time forced a break with Gregg Bennett, Matt Charabot, Maik Petzold and Christian Prochnow. When he finished 8th in Hyde Park, Hayes said he needed at least a 1min30 gap over the faster runners to give himself a chance of winning, and he did exactly that today.
He said: “We had a plan on the third lap to attack on the bike. The only way I can win is to attack on the bike. I go into every race and I try to come last or first by breaking away and putting everything into the bike.
“I’m trying to change mentality of the ITU pack and ride hard so it’s not just a running race, it’s a bike race too. I’d love to be part of 2012 but it will be hard as we have so many great guys in Britain, it will be tough to make the team.”
Hayes margin of victory over Javier Gomez was 32seconds. He received a 15second penalty for not placing his cycling helmet in the transition box at the second transition, but never really looked like catching Hayes.
Gomez said: “I have no idea what happened, I threw the helmet like I do in every race but nothing would have changed, I wouldn’t have caught Stuart, but I had to catch Frodeno twice!
“Stuart deserves the victory, and I’m quite happy with second. With a lead like that people like Stuart, who are also good runners, are not easy to catch.”
Jan Frodeno was third and holds on to his number one world ranking with just one race left in the Series.
Tim Don was Britain’s next best finisher in 11th place. Will Clarke was 23rd and Alistair Brownlee was a disappointing 40th, 4minutes and 4seconds back from Hayes.
Brownlee received a 15second time penalty, which he took half way through the run and never recovered to full pace. Olly Freeman was forced to withdraw in the early stages of the bike leg after a good swim.
Tomorrow sees the women race at the same time, 1pm GMT. Helen Jenkins will look to score valuable points to set herself up for the Grand Final in Budapest.
ELITE MEN
1. Stuart Hayes (GBR) 1:52:32
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:53:04
3. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:53:21
12. Tim Don (GBR) 1:54.11
23. Will Clarke (GBR) 1:54.47
40. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:56.36
Photo credit: Janos Schmidt/ITU
