World Triathlon

Brazil’s Reinaldo Colucci has finished in the top seven of an ITU World Cup event on six previous occasions, but it wasn’t until today that he scored his first World Cup win. Colucci started the run over a minute behind the lead pack, but used a blazing 30:23 10K run to pull out the win. It is the first World Cup win for a Brazilian in 12 years, and capped off a big day for Brazil, as countrywoman Carla Moreno finished third in the women’s race.

“I am so happy. I’ve been so close to a World Cup podium in the past few years, but I never had enough speed at the end of the race to finish it off,” Colucci said. “I felt great at the end today. It’s a great day for Brazil.”

Seventy-eight men took to the water to start the two-lap, 1.5K swim, with Australian Joshua Amberger taking up the lead at the start. The Aussie led through the first lap, earning him the $500 (USD) swim prime. Right on his heels were Russia’s Vladimir Turbaevskiy and Ivan Vasiliev, as well as Japan’s Tsukasa Hirano. As the front group of 15 men finished up the swim and headed toward transition, Hirano took the lead and the small group tried to ride away from the rest of the field at the start of the bike.

Five men were able to breakaway from the front group, building a lead of 35 seconds after the 8K ride into the centre of Tiszaujvaros. In the lead bunch were three Russians - Vasiliev, Turbaevskiy and Yulian Malyshev - as well as Amberger and Spain’s Francesco Godoy. The five-man break continued to gain about 10 seconds per lap on the big chase group throughout the first three of seven bike laps, finishing the third lap with a one-minute advantage.

“I was a bit concerned about that group being so far up the road, but I was confident in my run,” Colucci said.

By the time they hit T2, the five leaders had a gap of 1:10 on the peloton, which had swelled to over 50 men. Vasiliev was able to break away from the rest of the front bunch on the first of four run laps, building an 11-second advantage as he started lap two.

One by one, Vasilev and the rest of the leaders faded back, as Colucci led the charge of chasers headed toward the front. Going with the Brazilian were Mexico’s Crisanto Grajales and Czech Martin Krnavek.

“When I saw that it was down to 15 seconds with one lap to go, I knew I had a good chance.”

Colucci took over the lead on the final lap and put on a huge surge with 800 metres left to run, pulling away from the rest of the field. He broke the tape in 1:49:07, with Grajales finishing second two seconds later. It’s the first World Cup podium for the 23-year-old Grajales.

“I didn’t even know that I was in second place until I saw Colucci raise the finishing tape right in front of me,” Grajales said. “I knew I was running well, but I wasn’t focusing on my place, I was just focusing on running as hard as I could.”

Krnavek rounded out the podium, finishing another three seconds back of Grajales. It’s the third time that the Czech has finished on the podium in Tiszaujvaros, after winning in 2001 and finishing third in 2002.

“I’ve always enjoyed racing in Tizaujvaros-I’ve had great races here,” Krnavek said. “I plan on coming back many more times.”