Japan’s
Takumi Hojo produced the perfect race to run away with his first World Cup
victory in Yeongdo, South Korea, on Saturday morning. Great Britain’s Max
Stapley stormed down the blue carpet to earn his first World Cup medal, after a
huge battle with Germany’s Valentin Wernz who came away with the bronze.
The
inaugural World Triathlon Cup Yeongdo got underway on Saturday morning and
athletes were faced with challenging conditions as the air and humidity
temperatures were high. The sprint distance course showcased stunning views of
the Busan region as 54 men lined up to battle for points, medals and rankings.
Great
Britain’s Max Stapley led the charge early on in the 750m swim. Stapley
appeared to find his rhythm in the water immediately for the first portion of
the World Cup race and Canada’s Aiden Longcroft-Harris was on his heels around
the turns. It was carnage as the men swam around the second buoy with a lot
less room separating them than the women’s race earlier today. Stapley, Takumi
Hojo, Harris, Valentin Wernz and Trent Thorpe had the ability to have a fast
swim in Yeongdo which set them up to exit the swim and lead the push out onto
the bike course, consisting of 4-laps over 20-kilometres.
Japan’s
Jumpei Furuya pushed really hard to close the gap and make contact with the
lead group on the initial stage of bike as Wernz, Harris and Stapley started to
have an impact on the race early on.
The chase
group featured Brasil’s Kauê Willy and Mexico’s Olympian Irving Perez and were
driving the group, around the tight turns and taking the corners fast, attempting
to reign in the leaders.
Stapley
was up front for a large part of the bike segment, motivating the group to work
hard and push the pace. Australia’s Oscar Dart and Japan’s Kyotaro Yoshikawa
were working hard to stick with the leaders. By the final lap on the bike the
leaders had established a tremendous advantage on the field with over a minute
gap on the chasers, as they pulled up into transition and put their feet to the
pavement for the 5-kilometre run.
Tjebbe
Kaindl, Stefan Zachäus, Hojo, Wernz and Stapley were the first men to lead the
push onto the run followed by Yoshikawa, Daniel Dixon who made his World Cup
debut in Yeongdo, Dart, Harris and Thorpe.
Hojo
attacked immediately on the run course and continued to extend his lead on the
field, getting faster across the course. The Japanese athlete maintained a
remarkable pace to dominate the course and run away with his first World Cup
victory.
The
battle for medals was between Stapley and Wernz. Stapley was able to forge
ahead, sprint down the blue carpet and beat the German to earn his first World
Cup medal with silver in Yeongdo. Wernz, who was among the leaders for the
entire race in South Korea, was awarded bronze after a stellar sprint-distance
performance.
“I am
very happy, I had a good run today. I am surprised that I had a 25-second lead.
I am happy that today was the day that I got my first World Cup gold medal,”
said Hojo.
“You
can’t complain about two silvers in five days, I am absolutely buzzing. It was
an awesome race, really hard from start to finish. I had in my head that I was
going to make it a hard race today and swim from the front and it paid off for
me.” said Stapley.
“I am
super happy to come away with third place. The race was really hard and the
heat was super challenging so I am happy with third place,” said Wernz.
Review
the Elite men’s results.
Replay
the race on-demand over on TriathlonLive.tv.
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