The Elite men were met with
wind-swept conditions as they arrived at Sun Beach Hitotsuba for the
sprint-distance 2022 World Triathlon Cup Miyazaki. The course featured a 750m
choppy ocean swim, flat 20km (4-lap) bike course with technical sections and a winding
and fast 5-km (2-lap) run to finish the race. 60 Elite men lined up along the
beach to contest in the battle for World Cup success in Miyazaki. It was a
vision of whitewash as the stacked field rushed into the 750m ocean swim in Sun
Beach, Miyazaki. There were two distinctive groups during the swim and athletes
used the waves and chop to their advantage, all trying to set themselves in
front up for a strong run to transition.
Australia’s Oscar Dart swiftly
transitioned to take the front seat out onto the 20km course, which consisted
of technical sections and turns. Japan’s Jumpei Furuya and Makoto Odakura
looking to impress a home crowd, Portugal’s Ricardo Batista and Great Britain’s
Jack Willis quickly established themselves into a lead group, which included 11
men.
Spain’s David Castro Fajardo, a medal
prospect for today’s race, was forced to retire due to a mechanical on the
bike.
The leading group of men continued to
work together and put in time on the rest of the field. Ricardo Batista POR,
Gianluca Pozzatti ITA, Alberto Gonzalez Garcia ESP and Alessio Crociani ITA
were among the athletes pushing the pace on the bike.
As the men approached the next
transition of the day, Japan’s Takumi Hojo was first out and onto the run
course. Hojo looked incredible as he led the first lap of the 5km run but
Italy’s Pozzatti had another surge left in him and powered to the front to
overtake the Japanese athlete on the second lap. Batista, Gonzalez Garcia and
Willis were running side by side. With Pozzatti looking like he had the gold
medal for the day, the battle for silver and bronze was between three strong
athletes. Over the final stretch of the run portion of the race, there was no
looking back for Pozzatti as he sprinted down the finish chute to take the tape
and secure the first-ever World Cup win in his career.
“Honestly I am still speechless, I
don’t what to say. My top result in a World Cup was seventh so it’s a huge
improvement. The last two hundred metres I didn’t want to look back because I
knew he (Alberto Gonzalez Garcia) was coming and I know he is a strong runner.
It was incredible, I want to thank all the people who stayed in my corner
during the real lows and they trusted me more than I did myself so this is for
you guys, I love them all.”
“In a sprint distance race, the
strategy is to go all out from the beach start until the finish line. The swim
was pretty messy but we managed to breakaway with a group of guys up front, we
cooperated together and we ran off with 45-seconds so I knew there was a good
group of athletes up front. It was nice to fight with the guys until the finish
line and I am so happy to take the win.
“I love Japan, I have such good
memories also because of the Olympics last year. It’s always nice to come here,
even though it’s on the other side of the world, it’s totally worth it. I’m in
the shape of my life. The podium was my goal but to be on the top is
unbelievable, I am so happy.”
There was a lot of me switching
positions out on the run course and the sprint for medals was earned by
Gonzalez Garcia claiming silver and Batista delighted with bronze. All three
men secured their first World Cup medals.
“I am feeling great. It’s been a long
journey to have this first podium. We’ve been in Asia, also for the Tongyeong
World Cup, to be here is something amazing. A dream and sharing the podium with
these guys is something amazing.
“I saw Ricardo behind me but it was
the last race of the season so I had to give it everything, nothing left and
finally I got it,” said Gonzalez Garcia
“I am still speechless about this
result. I was expecting top 10 but came home with a podium place which is
always very good. In a sprint-distance race, it’s always all out from the
beginning, I tried to get out of the water in front and then on the bike we controlled
the gap and worked really well. We reached T2 with a 45-second gap and then it
was a battle for the podium,” Batista said.
Willis of Great Britain displayed an
outstanding swim, bike and run set-up in Miyazaki but didn’t quite have the
speed and settled for a fourth position today. Hojo crossed in the fifth
position and was certainly a crowd favourite.
Review the full results online. https://triathlon.org/results/result/2022_world_triathlon_cup_miyazaki/550759?mc_cid=2ba885162d&mc_eid=6139649918
Replay the race on-demand at
TriathlonLIVE.tv
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