David Cantero put in a monumental final leg to earn Spain the Mixed Relay Series Abu Dhabi gold on Saturday afternoon after brilliant work from teammates Sara Guerrero, Antonio Serrat and Marta Pintanel to set up his charge.
Cantero picked up duties from the gutsy Pintanel, only for Luke Willian (AUS) to make a clear break on the bike. But even a 15 second advantage wasn’t enough to hold off the marauding Cantero, and as Max Studer served a bike dismount penalty, it was all Spain’s for the taking, Australia with silver, Brazil with a historic Series Relay bronze.
“I was trying to focus on the swim and stay at the front as long as possible," said Cantero. "When Luke made the breakaway we couldn’t organise, but I knew it would be a fast run course and I played my cards as best as possible. When I saw Max had a penalty to serve I really felt confident to take the win.”
LEG ONE
Emma Jeffcoat took the fastest line onto the beach and it was Australia coming into transition first with Jolien Vermeylen and Belgium for closest company, Sophie Evans (GBR) and Iana Chenskaia (RUS) in chase after the first 300m swim.
Almost the entire field came together on the 7km bike, the top 15 not including South Africa and Luxembourg who had drifted to over a minute back. Onto the high-speed run-track for three laps, it was Chenskaia then Gina Sereno and the USA up front as the field began to break up for the first time.
LEG TWO
Seth Rider was first out for the USA followed by Joao Batista and Portugal and things came back together in the water, Matt Hauser hauling Australia back into the mix, Stapley and Great Britain and Hidalgo for Brazil going well, Westermann and Switzerland firing up a big bike segment.
Eleven men came together on the front of the bike, Ben Dijkstra and Netherlands were first off and out onto the run before Hauser and Hidalgo took control, leading just as they had in Friday’s individual race, Seth Rider in chase for USA.
LEG THREE
So Brazil handed off by mere seconds from Australia and USA, Vittoria Lopes darting the swim, Tilly Offord and Gwen Jorgensen in chase but only 15 seconds separated the top 11 teams at the halfway mark.
Eve Whitaker and Nina Eim then hauled GB and Germany back into the mix as Jorgensen and the USA slipped to 20 seconds off the front, Vargem and Portugal now nearly 50 seconds back, leaving nine teams to come into transition together, Switzerland right in there after a great bike leg from Cathia Schar. Spain’s Marta Pintanel had work to do at this stage and red-lined her team back into contention, Germany, Russia and GB the first to hand over.
LEG FOUR
That huge Nina Eim effort put Germany’s Jasper Ortfeld into the water first by 6 seconds from Max Studer’s Switzerland and Luke Willian and Australia, Cantero 10 seconds back with Spain, Harry Leleu and GB 15 seconds, Manoel Messias’ Brazil 30 seconds off the pace.
Willian hit the front in the water, Leleu and Studer for closest company, a brilliant Cantero swim keeping Spain right there as they came back to dry land and a crucial bike ahead. The Australian was quickly on the gas and suddenly carved out a healthy dose of daylight to the chasers.
The gap was out to 10 seconds to the five chasers Switzerland, Spain, GB, Germany and Russia, then a group of USA, Brazil, France and Netherlands a further 6 seconds back and starting to believe in their own medal potential.
The chasers came together on the second lap 17 seconds I arrears, the dangerous Studer, Messias and Cantero ready to pounce on any Willian slip in transition.
But it was to be Studer with the slip as he overshot the dismount line, a resulting 10-second penalty to serve taking Switzerland out of podium contention, and Cantero was suddenly on Willian’s shoulder with 800m to go.
As Studer had to peel off into the penalty box, Cantero hit the accelerator one last time and pulled clear to the tape, Willian gutsy to hold on for silver, Messias and Brazil with a huge result in third. Antipov took Russia over for fourth, Ortfeld and Germany fifth, Studer settling for sixth followed by GB, France, USA and Netherlands.
