Youri Keulen beats Alistair Brownlee while Imogen Simmonds blasts at Challenge Barcelona

The inaugural Challenge Barcelona event featured a unique race distance for the pros – a 1.5 km swim, 60 km bike and a 15 km run – that allowed race organizers to host the event in the heart of the popular European city. The day delivered some exciting racing, too, as two-time Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee (GBR) returned after heel surgery to take second behind a speedy Youri Keulen (NED), with Imogen Simmonds taking the women’s race.

In the men’s race it was Germany’s Wilhelm Hirsch who led out of the water. Once out on the bike, though, Keulen quickly rode to the front, creating a lead group of five that included Brownlee, Aussie Aaron Royle, Hirsch and his countryman Nils Lorenz. Once on the run Brownlee quickly moved to the front, but could never shake Keulen, who moved to the front with 5 km to go and was finally able to break Brownlee at the 14 km point of the run, allowing the Dutchman to take the biggest win of his career in 2:29:15. Brownlee took second in 2:29:36, with Hirsch rounding out the podium in 2:30:55.

Simmonds overcomes speedy field … and a head cold

After a tough swim that saw her hit T1 1:20 behind swim leader Lucy Buckingham (GBR), Simmonds, who was suffering from a head cold, finally got things moving over the second half of the bike, joining Buckingham and Germany’s Caroline Pohle in the lead heading into T2. Out on the run course Simmonds immediately moved into the lead and cruised to the win in 2:49:44, with Buckingham taking second in 2:52:38 and Pohle rounding out the podium in 2:53:09.

Photographer Jose Luis Hourcade was on hand to capture these great images from the race.