María Ortega, thirteenth in the Chengdou World Cup

The Australian Gillian Backhouse claimed the title of the Chengdu ITU World Cup (AUS) by overtaking the US for 29 seconds Jessica Broderick and leaving the bronze for the Belgian Claire Michel.

 

 

This Saturday 10 of May, landed in Chengdou, the first of the two rounds of the World Cup that will take place in China in this edition 2014. Spain was represented by Melina Alonso and María Ortega, both in search of valuable points in the ITU ranking. Unfortunately, the Spaniards had unequal luck in this third stage of the World Cup, with Ortega reaping a great performance and reaching an outstanding thirteenth place.

 

The competition was developed accompanied by a strong heat, together with the humidity of this area of ​​Sichuan province. Both factors would be key in the evolution of the event, affecting the triathletes throughout the competition. The initial segment was formed by two swimming laps (1,5 km in total), followed by 40 km cyclists, by a sector that incorporated hills and very technical turns. Finally, there were the remaining 10 km of running, on a flat stretch.

 

In the cycling segment, Maria Ortega remained in a group of fifteen triathletes who led the 40 km of the sector. Ortega starred in a great role getting hold in this front platoon that reached the T2 with an advantage close to two minutes.

 

Already in the race on foot, the test broke with Gillian Backhouse taking the lead, in a segment in which the Australians became the owners of the competition in the early stages.

 

The Australian Gillian Backhouse he would demonstrate his power rising with the win with an advantage of 29 seconds over the second classified, the American Jessica Broderick. While the Belgian, Claire Michel completed the third place on the podium.

 

Behind, María Ortega He made a meritorious competition and crossed the finish line stopping the clock in 02: 03.46; in 13ª place. A position that allows you to add important points for the ITU ranking.

 

While the other Spanish at the helm, Melina Alonso, he did not have his day, and after an irregular initial segment he stayed behind from the first stages of the competition. Alonso, finished in 31ª position, with a final time of 02: 12: 40

 

Classification

1.	Gillian Backhouse	AUS		02:01:04
2.	Jessica Broderick	USA		02:01:33
3.	Claire Michel	BEL		02:01:46
4.	Lisa Perterer	TUE		02:02:23
5.	Tamsyn Moana-Veale	AUS		02:02:40
6.	Lianyuan Wang	CHN		02:02:47
7.	Margit Vanek	HUN		02:02:50
8.	Simone Ackermann	NZL		02:03:00
9.	Yuting Huang	CHN		02:03:09
10.	Liubov Polyanskaya	RUS		02:03:14

Photo: ITU