3 Spanish in the TOP 10 in the European Cup of Melilla

British double in Melilla with Sharp and Johson and third position for the Italian De Ponti.

After the brilliant performance of the girls with the second place in Anna Godoy the men's competition has been disputed, with 48 triathletes, where 20 of them were Spanish. 

Among the large national participation stood out Cesc Godoy, Uxío Abuín, Antonio Serrat y Ricardo Hernández who had shown in recent weeks to come in good shape. On the other hand also within the group of favorites were the British Sharp, the Italian De Ponti and the Mexican Vega.

At the 18: 00 began the test, with Godoy and Uxío leading the swim along with Douglas in the early stages. After the long 1500m the Catalan of the UA Triathlon Cesc Godoy is the first to finish the swim, followed by the young Ignacio González, but without breaking the group more than 20 triathletes come out of the water in a space of 15 ''.

After the T1 a large group of 27 triathletes was formed with most of the favorites, except Serrat who is a little more behind. The pace in the leading group was high from the beginning, losing some units the first kilometers and reducing to 23 when passing through the 21km. Serrat failed to link and remained in the second group to 1 '. In the last kilometers of cycling a mechanical problem forced Uxio to retreat. Beau Smith escapes in the final meters and comes with 20 '' advantage to the T2 and behind the group of favorites.

After making the second transition, Smith led the test and Genis Grau was the first of the main group to leave the T2. After the first round the great favorite Matthew Sharp takes the lead, followed by his compatriot Calum Johnson and the Italian De Ponti. Behind Jordi Garcia is placed fourth for a few kilometers but is passed by Alberto González in the final kilometers.

Finally the positions do not suffer changes, double of Great Britain with Sharp y Johnson and third place for From Ponti. In fourth position better Spanish in his Olympic debut elite ITU the young Andalusian Ignacio González and fifth Catalan Jordi Garcia.

The rest of Spaniards in top20 positions were Genis Grau (10º), Cesc Godoy (12º), Bruno Raso (13º), Ricardo Hernández (15º) and Alberto Castiñeira (16º)

Photo FETRI