Rhodes World Cup 7th October 2007
Afternoon
everyone, Well the World Cup in Rhodes Greece 2007, Is mine!! It was a
great day to win another world cup. And its always a an honor to do so
when so many great athletes are on the starting line. It's been a great
season so far for me and all that has supported me through it. I have
made a lot of sacrifices throughout the year, And with all the pressure
of gaining the Olympic spot for Beijing it was great to just have fun
and race with no convictions. I headed to this race in Rhodes knowing
that I could be aggressive and race positively like I love too. I
always think that if you give yourself a chance of winning you can do
so. And again it proved so yesterday.
I had an average start and found myself fighting to get around the cans in the swim and was well back after the first lap of 750 meters. But on the second lap I had some luck, and the front group of about 20 guys headed in the wrong direction on the way back in to the beach. All of a sudden the back was the front!. I could see some really good cyclists ahead of me when we ran 400 meters too the first transition, so I ran as fast as I could to catch them.
The bike course was quite technical, with one hill and a lot of winding corners and a strong sea breeze along the foreshore sections. I thought this would be great place to attack from when I looked over the course the days before. If I hit it hard in the crosswind along the flat and then rode hard up the ensuing hill, there maybe a chance to get away. And so it was! As we arrived at the bottom of the hill in single file with everyone pretty strung out. I attacked immediately up the first climb. This was pretty early!!! we only had been riding for a couple of k's. But it was the chance I was looking for and so I went with my instinct. I rode strong up the hill and managed to gain a small gap by the top. I pushed hard over the crest and took a peak over my shoulder to see Ronaldo Colluci from Brazil bearing down on me... I have spoken of him before, as we have been in two breakaways together already this season. So when I saw it was him I knew it could work. And boy can he ride!!
I must say a big thanks to him for the effort he put into the breakaway. He was much stronger than I on the day and probably will ever be, for that matter!!. We built up a nice gap over the 40k but it wasn't a lot for the amount of effort we seemed to have put in. While we were working away at the front a few other guys managed to slip away from the big group and were actually catching us. These were none other than Olympic bronze medalist Sven Riederer and the new young star of the ITU 19 year old Alastair Brownlee from England. As we entered T2 we had managed to gain 1-minute on the big group of about 30 guys. But only 12 seconds on Alastair and Sven.
I
hit the ground running and tried to get into my stride quickly. I
quickly realized that I had some very heavy legs from the bike. And I
could feel a slight cramping in my hamstrings and quads the whole first
2k. It wasn't long after this that Alastair and Sven caught up to me. I
picked up my cadence and tucked in behind them. It was clear that
Alastair was on a mission! He was flying, and lifted again and after 4k
we dropped Sven. At this point I decided that Al was having a amazing
day. And one he will have many times in the future I'm sure.
This guy is the real deal, and he sure knows how to get the job done when its needed at such a young age... I hung in his shadow and let him set the pace. It was his race to win, and my race to lose from this point on. I knew it would come down to a sprint but I didn't want to leave it too long. He was having such a day that he could do anything and maybe clean me up in a sprint too!!. So I surged with about 500 meters to go and got a small gap. It was enough that I could hold it to the finish line and take the World Cup win. As I crossed the line all I could do was look back to show my feelings and sentiments for the race from Alastair. It was a great day for me to win. But I think Alastair stole the show out there. As his performance was world class, considering his age and experience. A couple of easy days now for me before I head to the big old US of A, for my next race this weekend in Dallas. The big non drafting affair is the last race in the lifetime fitness series. I have done some specific training for this race since Beijing. So I hope it pays off for me again next Sunday.
Until then take care.
Kris