Previewing the inaugural Banyoles ITU Triathlon World Cup
Many London bound athletes are set to race on Sunday in Spain.
A host of London bound athletes headline the 2012 Banyoles ITU Triathlon World Cup this weekend including Erin Densham (AUS), Andrea Hewitt (NZL), and Laurent Vidal (FRA) . With the finalization of Olympic teams, the last races before London are all important not only offering the best indication on current form, but also key preparation for the Games.
ABOUT THE RACE: Following a successful European Cup in 2011, Banyoles this year hosts the fourth ITU Triathlon World Cup of the 2012 season. The race begins in the Lake of Banyoles, the rowing venue at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, for a two-lap 1.5km swim before the 40km bike leads athletes around the lake for a mostly flat but technical ride. The run course passes through the park for a flat and fast finish.
SCHEDULE:
Elite Women – Sunday 17 June – 9:45am (UTC/GMT +2)  Click here for time in your area
Elite Men – Sunday 17 June – 12:45pm (UTC/GMT +2)
WEBSITES:
START LISTS:
LIVE COVERAGE:
Live text coverage from Banyoles will be available on race day at triathlon.org/live or at @triathlonlive on Twitter.
TOTAL PRIZE MONEY: $50,000 USD (equal for men & women)
COURSE PROFILE:
Swim – Two-lap, 1.5 kilometre swim in Lake of Banyoles from pontoon dive start.
Bike – Six-lap, 40km bike leg around the lake, technical but not hilly.
Run – Three-lap, 10km run on flat park course.
STORIES TO WATCH FOR:
Elite Women
In the women’s race, Hewitt and Densham will provide the focus as the top two ranked women in the field and considered favourites for the Olympic podium. The pair has already met twice this year in Mooloolaba and Sydney. Both were won by Densham, and Hewitt took bronze at both. While Densham has been working hard for a place on the Australian Olympic team entering her sixth race of the season, Hewitt’s race plan will no doubt revolve around Olympic preparation in the final lead up to London.
Gwen Jorgensen (USA), who has already qualified for the US Olympic Team, also competed in Mooloolaba with a top ten finish and ended just out of the medals in Sydney. A win in Banyoles would be her second ITU World Cup title after Tiszaujvaros last year.
Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle will also be in contention with two top ten finishes this year in Sydney then San Diego and she won the 2011 Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup. In addition Lucy Hall will be looking for a good performance after the strong swimmer was recently selected by Great Britain for London.
Also in the field is Poland’s Agnieszka Jerzyk, reigning under23 world champion and New Zealand’s Mikayla Nielsen who is reigning junior world champion, as well as Felicity Sheedy-Ryan (AUS) who won in Banyoles last year and local hope Banyoles born Carolina Routier (ESP).
Elite Men
Stand out favourites in the men’s race are Dmitry Polyanskiy and Vidal. Polyanskiy is currently second in the ITU World Series rankings after taking bronze at the most recent race in Madrid. He already has two World Cup titles to his name, Tiszaujvaros in 2009 and last year in Tongyeong. Â However, Vidal’s current form will be a force to be reckoned with after he took bronze at the opening World Series of the season in Sydney, following his Mooloolaba World Cup victory in March.
Among the rest of the elite men is Ukraine’s Ivan Ivanov who finished fifth at the 2012 Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup and Portugal’s Joao Pereira who has one World Cup podium to date.
Aaron Harris (GBR) will also be one to watch as he shared the podium in Banyoles last year with Javier Gomez. Andrey Bryukhankov, younger brother of current world number one Alexander Bryukhankov, enters his third world cup at elite level and 2012 Team ITU development athletes Ognjen Stojanovic (SRB) and Per Wangel (SWE) are also in action in Banyoles.
