Triathlon: Docherty all class

Bevan Docherty overcame a slow start to win the men's Continental Cup triathlon race yesterday, while Canada's Kirsten Sweetland took out the women's title.

Docherty and Kris Gemmell missed the lead group out of the water, trailing young Australians Shane Barrie, Ben Allen and Clayton Fettell by 20 seconds.

But it was not long before both rode up to a lead group of a dozen riders on the cycle leg and they set to work to put some distance on a big chase group.

Gemmell's hopes were dashed when he crashed at almost 60km/h.

"It was no one's fault really, there was a bump in the road right on the corner," a grazed and bruised Gemmell said. "Clayton Fettell got on the wrong side of the bump, his back wheel jumped out and caught my front wheel and I had nowhere to go."

With that the group lost momentum and the chase pack closed, forming a lead group of 25 to 30 riders for the remainder of the 40km until young New Zealander Martin Van Barneveld broke on the final lap to hold a 32-second go in into the run leg.

Docherty didn't wait long before he assumed the lead and control of the race, running comfortably to win by 10 seconds from New Plymouth favourite Clark Ellice and Germany's Andreas Raelert, clocking one hour, 51 minutes 33 seconds.

"Once Kris crashed we lost a lot of power in the lead group, and were caught by the others and it was going to come down to the run," Docherty said. "That was comfortable for me, the ride wasn't as tough as some thought it was going to be so overall it was an easy day.

Sweetland, who scored her second World Cup win in Mooloolaba, Australia, last weekend, ran clear of New Zealand's Nicky Samuels and Japan's Kiyomi Niwata to win in 2hr 02min 22sec.

She broke clear on the bike along with Samuels and New Zealander Andrea Hewitt and the three worked together on the undulating six-lap course.

With Australian Felicity Abram, ranked No 2 last year, suffering mechanical failure and a puncture behind them, the three looked set to battle it out.

Samuels' chances were damaged by incurring a 10-second stand-down penalty at the end of the bike leg because she had mounted her bike too soon at the start of the 40km.

Hewitt led early but faded to fourth, with Niwata posting the second quickest run split (36:19) after Sweetland.

- NZPA