Brownlee Unstoppable In London

The unstoppable Alistair Brownlee again showed he is the real deal taking his fourth Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series win in four starts in front of an elated home crowd in London today.

The 21 year old raced from the front over the 2012 Olympic venue, cruising home in front of an ecstatic home crowd in a time of 1 hour 41 minutes and 50 seconds. In second place was another up and coming athlete in Germany's Steffen Justus, eight seconds back. Third place went to New Zealand's Kris Gemmell, who just outkicked Sebastian Rank from Germany in a sprint across the line.

"I can't quite believe it, I never expected at the start of the season to get a win in Madrid, Washington or Kitzbühel or here," said Brownlee. "I've had a lot of luck on my side, but you've got to make the most of it and I think I have. It's been a great run of results and I hope it continues."

A small breakaway of 12 formed from the opening 1,500 metre swim and in it was Brownlee, his younger brother Jonathan and current world champion Javier Gomez. The group worked well together to stay almost a minute ahead of the large chase pack of 40 plus riders until the 30 kilometre mark when Gomez hit the pavement, retiring from the race with road rash. After the incident the lead group slowed down and the chasers swallowed them up heading into the bell lap. A visibly upset Brownlee was not impressed to see the chase group catch on and with it some of the sport's top runners including Justus, Gemmell, Rank, Tim Don, Courtney Atkinson and Laurent Vidal.

"I heard a big crash behind me and looked round but couldn't see who it was, then Johnny [Brownlee] rode up to me and said it was Gomez," recalled Brownlee. "I thought because there was a group catching us up that he might be able to get back in the race and catch back up, so I didn't know he was out of the race until I was on the run."

Entering second transition was some 47 men, the largest bike pack seen this year. But despite his frustrations, out to the front immediately was Brownlee pushing the pace. Although a small group was able to stay with him over the first six kilometres, it was not long until it was the series leader on his own. The seemingly unstoppable Brownlee once again blew away the field to claim his fourth Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series race this season with a closing 28:43 run split.

"I never thought I could get on the podium," said Justus. "My ranking is eleventh and so my ambitions are always to come in the top ten. There seems to be a triathlon boom in Germany right now, we're all having a great year with Maik Petzold, Jan Frodeno and Daniel Unger. Let's see what we can do at the Grand Final."

"It hasn't been too bad a season, and it's nice to be on an upwards curve," added Gemmell. "I tried to manage the last two races with some heavy training, so it's good that it's come off here in London. I train with Steffen Justus and Sebastien Rank every summer in Germany so it was good fun battling it out in the home straight. It wasn't the prettiest look in the world, but it was a good result."

So with his win, Brownlee solidifies his lead in the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series rankings, maxing out his points total leading into the Grand Final on the Gold Coast of Australia in four weeks time. Justus moves into third with his second place finish and Gomez falls out of the top three.

Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Rankings

After Race Six of Eight

London Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series

1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run

Elite Men - Unofficial Results

For more information on the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series, please visit www.triathlon.org.