Ryan Bailie’s rise up the ITU World Triathlon Series rankings has continued with a 7th place finish in yesterday’s London sprint race.
Bailie came to the front at the start of the 5km run in a lead group of eight men which included ‘big-hitters’ Javier Gomez, Richard Murray, Mario Mola and both Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee.
“I was out of transition in the first third (of riders) and I knew I had to bridge the gap to the small group of leaders that were quickly disappearing,” said Bailie post-race.
Together, the group of eight set a scintillating pace for the first of two short 2.5km laps as Bailie matched the leaders stride for stride, opening up a gap on the rest of the field. Several tactical moves eventuated over the final two laps, dropping Joao Silva of Portugal from the eight.
The podium didn’t materialize until the final 200m where Mola, Murray and Joao Pereira distanced themselves from the dwindling lead group.
“I was unhitched with around 800m to go after one surge too many,” Bailie reflected.
Earlier in the race, Bailie exited the water well down in 41st place, placing him together with Mola and Murray in a determined chase group which required only 2.5 laps on the bike leg to bridge the gap to the leaders. No less than 55 riders entered the second transition together before the start of the run in a jam-packed field.
Bailie’s fine start to the ITU World Triathlon Series has seen him overtake Aaron Royle as the highest ranked Australian and up to No. 5 in the world.
The next ITU World Triathlon race is in Chicago (29 June) before Hamburg (12 July) and then the Commonwealth Games race in Glasgow completes a busy month of racing.
Watch the race highlights from London below:
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