Mario Mola fourth in the San Diego World Series
During the second day of the World Series in San Diego (USA) played in the early hours of Sunday (Spanish time), it was the turn of the men's elite category. The event marked the return to competition of Briton Jonathan Brownlee after almost seven months of absence.
The youngest of the Brownlees proved to be in an excellent state of form and obtained the final victory. Silver went to Sven Riederer and bronze went to South African Richard Murray, who is the leader of the classification.
For its part, Mario Mola he shone again in the foot race and achieved a brilliant fourth place. As in the women's event, the event was fraught with a lot of tension, with several participants struggling to get their ticket to the British capital. Between them, the Spaniards fought to keep the three seats and to decide who will accompany Gómez Noya this summer on the starting line from London.
The first to complete the 1.5 km swim across Mission Bay were a group of six with Russia's Vasiliev leading, followed by Brownlee, Raphael, Royle, Belaubre and Atkinson. The best of the Spaniards was Iván Raña.
The triathlete from Ordes came out ninth, just five seconds behind the leading group. Behind came Josemi Pérez in 30th place, Fernando Alarza, 37º and already far behind Mario Mola, 51º 45 seconds behind the leaders. At the beginning of the 40 km of cycling there was a small escape by a group of eight triathletes that included Brownlee, Chabrot, Royle, Vasiliev, Gemmell, Fabian, Raphael, Tayama and Raña. However, the Galician would be losing ground and would be relegated before finishing the first lap.
In the end, the breakaway did not prosper and the pursuing platoon would cut distances until they reached them midway through the third lap. Later a third platoon would join them and, at T2, a large block formed by approximately 50 triathletes would enter. Raña was the first to leave the transition zone and was at the forefront of the race on foot. However, already in the first moments Brownlee and Murray were hunting him. Behind them, several of the contestants struggled to secure their pass to the Olympics. From london.
The third segment certified that Brownlee is one of the best riders on the circuit. The foot race started, the York triathlete escaped alone with
Murray. The South African would hold his pace for the first half of the 10km, but eventually gave in to the British push.
Riederer and Mario Mola approached from behind, struggling to get on the podium. The Swiss managed to overtake Murray and headed for second position. While the South African would manage to retain the third place. Arrived in this sector, Mario Mola starred in a splendid comeback, achieving fourth place that reinforces his chances of attending the Olympic event.
After being relegated to the last places in the swimming and cycling route, the Mallorcan advanced from 36th position at the exit of T2 and established himself in fourth place during the first of the three laps of the foot race. Meanwhile, Josemi Pérez finished in 22nd place, followed by Iván Raña, 28th and Fernando Alarza, 42nd.
Elite male classification:
1 Jonathan Brownlee RU 01: 48: 47
2 Sven Riederer SUI 01: 48: 52
3 Richard Murray RSA 01: 49: 01
4 Mario Mola ESP 01: 49: 09
5 Hunter Kemper USA 01: 49: 18
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22 José Miguel Pérez ESP 01: 50: 09
28. Ivan Raña ESP 01:50:22
42 Fernando Alarza ESP 01: 51: 28
FETRI
