Africa Triathlon

Brad Kahlefeldt from Australia has just won the 2006 Tiszaujvaros BG Triathlon World Cup, his fourth of the year, in a sprint finish with Germanys Jan Frodeno.  This moves Kahlefeldt to the top of the BG Triathlon world cup rankings.  Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan, who lives and trains in Tiszaujvaros managed to edge out South Africas Hendrik DeVilliers by only half a second to take the bronze medal.

On the last lap I was thinking to go earlier but decided to leave it to a sprint finish, said Kahlefeldt.  I wanted to see how my sprinting was going.  It waited and it paid off.  This is a huge booster going into world champs in three weeks.

Because of recent rain the Tisza Rivers current was stronger then usual as 74 men took their starting marks.  Frodeno was the first to exit the water in a blistering time of 16:48.  He was followed closely by French team mates Stephan Poulat and Frederic Belaubre and a long string of athletes behind them including Kahlefeldt, Hendrik DeVilliers (RSA), Bryce Quirk (AUS), two-time winner here, Martin Krnavek (CZE), Reto Hug (SUI), Andriy Glushchenko (UKR) and others.

Poulat, Belaubre and I started the swim together and but the three-quarter mark was feeling really good so I started pushing the pace, commented Frodeno.

Three packs formed quickly on the bike course with only a minute separating the leaders from the last pack.  These eventually came together by the 30 kilometre mark to form one large group of 45 athletes.  It was not long, however, until the first breakaway was made by the threesome of local Hungarian Csaba Kuttor, Aussie Matt Hopper and Croatian Zvonko Cubric.  Over the last 10 kilometres they managed to stretch their lead to 40 seconds by the start of the 10km run.

Their gap quickly eroded as the big guns Kahlefeldt, Frodeno, Gaag, DeVilliers and others took the lead early into the run.  These four raced shoulder to shoulder over the next two laps and it was apparent that our winners would come from this group.  At the 5km mark, Kahlefeldt made his patented surge to drop Gaag and DeVilliers.  Only Frodeno could stay with him.

I was so happy to stay with Brad when he made his move, said Frodeno.  I kept picturing myself running across the finish line and grabbing the BG Triathlon tape.  I knew Brad was going to come and I went with him.  Then he went again and I was just too exhausted.

The last kilometre I was thinking about last years race and being beaten, replied Kahlefeldt.  I wasnt going to let it happen again.

It was going to be a sprint to the finish as Kahlefeldt decided to test his finishing speed, waiting to the last 50 metres to surge away from Frodeno.   It was up to Gaag and DeVilliers to decide the final podium spot, a place Gaag has been an astonishing 22 times over his 10 year career and a place DeVilliers has yet to be.  Experience and the home-town crowd gave Gaag that extra push at the finish to edge out DeVilliers at the line.

This race is very special because it is my city, I live here, said Gaag.  The fifth time I have been on the podium here.  I am very happy with third place.  This is only my second world cup of this year.

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