Bevan Docherty secured valuable individual and Olympic World Ranking points with a solid 10th place finish at this morning's ITU Dextro Energy World Champs Series race in cold conditions at Kitzbuehel, Austria.
Docherty was the best of the Kiwis in a rain affected race, with Clark Ellice 18th and Tony Dodds a disappointing 48th in a race won by current World number one Alistair Brownlee (GBR).
Brownlee was the fastest man in the swim, equal fastest in the bike and then blitzed the field in the run for his second consecutive Dextro Energy Triathlon Series win – after taking out Madrid just two weeks ago – and move ahead of Javier Gomez and younger brother Jonathan in the overall rankings.
US based Docherty was pleased with his return to the WCS after missing Madrid a fortnight ago, with today's result propelling the two time Olympic medallist up to 15th in the world rankings.
"That was solid for me today, a good return to racing at this level after missing Madrid. It goes without saying that the standard is very high and you have to be right on your form but I am happy with my result on a tough day today and am clearly tracking in the right direction with the bigger races to come later in the season."
Triathlon New Zealand National Coach Greg Fraine was pleased with Docherty's return but also the form once again of Clark Ellice (New Plymouth).
"Today was another step up in performance for Clark who continues a solid season picking up good points. Tony struggled in the conditions today, the air temperature was only just in double digits and he struggled with the cold conditions despite a strong swim near the front of the field and riding well early on."
Fraine was interested in the return of Australian Chris McCormack to the sport as was a large section of the international media in attendance as the multiple Hawaii Ironman winner began his quest to qualify for the London Olympics with something of a 'wake-up call', withdrawing after five laps of the bike at the rear of the field.
"While it is very early for McCormack on his return to ITU racing, today highlighted just how advanced the sport is at this level. Ironman training is clearly not a good lead in to an ITU drafting race and with the pressure very high throughout the bike today, the pace was on all the way and just too quick for Macca in his comeback race. It will be interesting to see how he progresses through the season."
The women race tonight NZT, with the elite field including Andrea Hewitt, Kate McIlroy, Nicky Samuels, Debbie Tanner and Rebecca Spence due to leave the starting pontoon at 10.30pm. The race will be covered live on Sky Sport and www.triathlon.org
ITU Dextro Energy World Champs Series: Kitzbuehel, Austria
Elite Men
1 Alistair Brownlee GBR 1:51:54
2 Alexander Brukhankov RUS 1:52:38
3 Sven Riederer SUI 1:52:59
4 William Clarke GBR 1:53:08
5 Brad Kahlefeldt AUS 1:53:10
6 Laurent Vidal FRA 1:53:13
7 Vladimir Turbaevskiv RUS 1:53:17
8 Dimitry Polyansky RUS 1:53:20
9 Vincent Luis FRA 1:53:23
10 Bevan Docherty NZL 1:53:26
Plus Kiwis
18 Clark Ellice NZL 1:53:54
48 Tony Dodds NZL 1:57:22
