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In the shadow of Spains Royal Palace in the heart of Madrid, eighty-one men dived into the water for the start of the newly renamed Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup.  The Spanish crowd was elated to see their home-nation athletes Javier Gomez and Ivan Raa gain first and second place in times of 1:53:09 and 1:53:17 respectively.  Maik Petzold from Germany edged out Bruno Pais from Portugal in a sprint finish for the last podium place, finishing in 1:53:21.

Watch exclusive video highlights from Madrid now on Tricast.

Its a very beautiful course, said Gomez.  You can feel the pain in your legs but I like this kind of race and everything was perfect for me.  It is my first time on top of the podium at a world cup.  It is a special moment for me.

Its wonderful being at home.  We can feel the crowd and I want to thank all the people that support us.  They are the most important thing for us.

There was energy in the air at this first qualifying event for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as the ITU had announced their partnership with the global natural gas business, BG Group.  The new worldwide partner will place significant resources and investment to support the sports development and bring more athletes from around the world to world cup events. 

We are very happy because now triathlon will be more popular. We will have more support for training to become professional and improve.  I would like to thank BG for that, remarked Raa.

Raa had the swim he has been looking for, putting him and teammate Gomez in the lead group coming out of the water with many of the same faces.  Petzold, Frederic Baulabre (FRA), Richard Stannard (GBR), Volodymyr Polikarpenko (UKR), Bruno Pais (POR) and sixteen other athletes formed the large lead pack.  They did not look back and continued to increase their lead to forty-five seconds by the start of the run.  No doubt pushed by the jubilant cheers of the thousands of spectators that lined the course.

It was great, especially up the hill, I felt no pain and was just flying and when I crossed the transition area everything got much easier, commented Petzold.

The chase group, with many top names like Rasmus Henning (DEN) and last years winner Tim Don (GBR), worked very hard trying to close the gap but could not.  The Spanish team used team tactics by having the members in the second group slow the pace so not to catch the leaders.  It worked well as the race came down to the run and Spanish athletes placed one-two.

Other notables were Don, who despite having the fastest run of the day, finished eighth and top-ranked Mark Fretta (USA) snapped his chain during the bike and was forced to withdraw.

The updated 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup rankings shows three men tied for the lead; Javier Gomez (ESP), Bruno Pais (POR) and Hunter Kemper (USA).  Both Gomez and Pais have never been in this position before.

Results, pictures and audio are available on Tricast Live!

2006 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup Elite Men
1.GOMEZ, Javier (ESP)1:53:09
2.RANA, Ivan (ESP)1:53:17
3.PETZOLD, Maik (GER)1:53:21
4.PAIS, Bruno (POR)1:53:22
5.BELAUBRE, Frederic (FRA)1:53:26
6.RIEDERER, Sven (SUI)1:53:31
7.CLARKE, William (GBR)1:53:41
8.DON, Tim (GBR)1:53:52
9.KRNAVEK, Martin (CZE)1:54:09
10.POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR)1:54:12

Watch exclusive video highlights from Madrid now on Tricast.

Click here for official women’s results.

Click here for official men’s results.

Click here for official photo gallery.