Former Macleans College student Ryan Sissons has picked up his first world cup title following a close-fought finish in the ITU Madrid World Cup in Spain on Sunday.
Sissons won in a total time of 1 hour 53 minutes, just eight seconds ahead of France’s Raphael Montoya.
A huge lead group of 28 contested the first of the seven climbs on the bike course before a group of five (France’s Leo Bergere, Montoya and Simon Viein along with Stefan Zachaeus (LUX) and Sissons) pulled away on the final lap, triathlonworld.com reported.
“With a 30-second cushion starting the run, Montoya, Sissons and Viein were able to pull clear on the run,” the news site said.
“Montoya and Sissons dropped Viein into the last lap and, with 500 m to go, the Kiwi pulled clear for his first world cup title.”
Montoya hung tough for second while Viein (1:53:16) held off the rest of the chasers to nail the final place on the podium.
Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) took her first world cup title at the event as well.
“It was the toughest course I’ve ever raced, but also one of the best ones,” said Taylor-Brown.
Taylor-Brown finished in a time of 2:08:05.
