This weekend the triathlon world turns to the ancient Greek Island of Rhodes for the thirteenth stop of the 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup series. With a brief rest under their belts, many of the world’s top triathletes will again don their race kits for the most competitive triathlon in Greece since the Athens Olympic games.
The unstoppable Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal will be trying to equal triathlon history this weekend. A win will tie Fernandes with Australian Emma Carney’s record for the most world cup wins of any ITU athlete at 19. Earlier this year Fernandes just missed beating Carney’s standing record for most world cup wins in a row and now has the chance to again put her in triathlon’s history books.
She will have challengers however, including world ranked number two Emma Moffatt of Australia and top Swiss athlete Nicola Spirig.
In the men’s field, with the absence of world number one Javier Gomez of Spain, the marked men will be Australia’s Brad Kahlefeldt and Courtney Atkinson. Both who have had recent podium performances at two stacked events. Kahlefeldt won bronze at the recent world championships in Hamburg, Germany while Atkinson managed silver in Beijing, China two weeks ago at the official Olympic test event.
These two Aussies will have their work cut out for them however with the presence of strong European representation. Rasmus Henning of Denmark and Filip Ospaly of Czech Republic both have top world cup victories under their belts in 2007 and will be on the start list come Sunday. Tack on the likes of former world champion, Ivan Raña of Spain and Under23 world and European champion Will Clarke of Great Britain and the racing should be intense.
The course is a showcase of the Mediterranean islands beautiful mountainous landscape. Athletes will swim in the warm sea before heading onto a hilly and technical 7-lap bike course. The final 10-kilometre run will be through the main streets of Rhodes on a flat and exposed run course.
