Polikarpenko Wins Second World Cup of Season

Cancun, Mexico: For immediate release: The weather on Mexico’s Yucatan   Peninsula was perfect for triathlon with partly cloudy skies, air temperature   approaching 30oC and a blustery wind off the Caribbean.

  In the men’s event, world ranked #4, Volodomyr Polikarpenko of the Ukraine   moved into the lead as soon as the starter’s signal sounded. He was the   1st to exit into the swim to bike transition, followed closely by Rasmus Henning   of Denmark, the winner of last weekend’s Athens Sport Event and ITU World   Cup. Brazil’s swim specialist Paulo Miyashiro was 3rd to exit, just ahead   of Russia’s Ivan Vassiliev.

  Polikarpenko went solo at the front for the first lap, and by the 2km mark he   had a 30 second lead on Henning and Vassiliev who made up the chase pack. But   with some powerful cyclist in the big pack behind, the early leaders were soon   swallowed up on the 2nd lap. Hungary’s Szablocs Varga did most of the   work pulling a group of 15 up to the leaders.

  Rasmus Henning, Raul Cordoba of Spain and Uzziel Valderranbano of Mexico continued   to work the lead pack of 18, and by the start of the 3rd lap they had a full   minute on a chase group of 13 that was led by Mexico’s Carlos Probert, Daniel Fontana of Argentina and Gilberto Gonzalez of Venezuela. A second chase   group of 15 was a further 30 seconds back at this point and was led by Stefan   Perg of Austria and Peter Hobor of Hungary.

  At the midway point of the bike Rene Gohler of Germany, Jeff Sneed of the USA   and Csaba Kuttor of Hungary were at the front of the lead group, as Sebastien   LaFlamme of Canada broke from the chase pack in an attempt to bridge to the   leaders. He got as much as 25 seconds on the big chase pack which was led by   Bruno Pais of Portugal, Marcin Welarski of Sweden and Virgilio DeCastilho of   Brazil. On the 5th lap, the 3rd chase pack caught the 2nd group to form a huge   pack of over 30.

  Zimbabwe’s Rory Mackie and Mexico’s Arturo Garza broke from the   big pack and caught LaFlamme on the 6th lap and appeared to be in no-man’s   land between the 2 big pack, 1:25 behind the leaders and 30 seconds ahead of   the huge chase pack. Tamas Liptak of Hungary, Igor Syssoev of Russia and Paulo   Antunes of Portugal worked their magic at the front of the lead pack as Javier   Rosas of Mexico powered the big chase group along with his teammate Eugenio   Chimal and Giuseppe Ferraro of Italy. Mackie, Garza and LaFlamme were swallowed   up by the chase pack before the bike to run transition.

  Rasmus Henning was the first off the bike onto the 4-lap 10km run, with Paulo   Atunes on his heels, along with Tim Don of Great Britain. By the 1 km mark,   the trio at the front had a 20 second lead on the rest of the field. However   20 seconds was not enough for a man with more 2003 World Cup podium finishes   than any other – Volodomyr Polikarpenko. He and Kahlefeldt reeled the   leaders in then dropped Don and Atunes.

  The trio at the front slowly pulled away from the field with Henning doing most   of the honours at the front for the second half of the 10km. Excitement started   to build among the triathlon-crazy Mexican spectators that lined the course   as all indications pointed to another incredible sprint finish – a feature   becoming a tradition in World Cup racing.

  Tim Don was in 4th at this point with Ivan Vassiliev 5th (the best result for   a Russian athletes this season.)

  Polikarpenko moved into the lead with 200 metres to go, then powered home for   his second World Cup win of the season and a solid grip on the World Cup Series.   His time was 1:54:39. Brad Kahlefelt was second 6 seconds back with Rasmus Henning   in 3rd a further 12 seconds behind.