Alistair Brownlee wins Leeds triathlon
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 12/06/16 7:10pm
Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee laid down a marker for Rio by winning the inaugural World Triathlon Series race in his home city of Leeds.
Alistair and brother Jonny, who finished second, designed the course, which began with a 1.5km swim in Roundhay Park before a 41.5km bike and 10km run around the city centre.
Organisers hoped as many as 100,000 people would come out to watch and the brothers received a rapturous reception as they pulled off the dream result.
It was the first time they and world champion Javier Gomez, who split the brothers on the podium in London in 2012, had all competed in the same race since 2014.
But Jonny managed to jump away from the Spaniard early on the bike leg to join the leading trio of Alistair, Australia's Aaron Royle and Aurelien Raphael of France and by the time Gomez began the run he was more than two minutes down.
Alistair had only raced once in the World Series since ankle surgery last year prior to Leeds but looked in superb form from the start and quickly dropped his brother on the run, with Royle finishing third.
It was the 28-year-old's first victory since he won Britain's round of the World Series in Hyde Park last May and will surely make him favourite to retain his Olympic title.
The women's race was won by phenomenal American Gwen Jorgensen ahead of Flora Duffy of Bermuda and Britain's Vicky Holland.
