Alistair Brownlee wins Madrid Marathon
Last updated 6/12/2011 6:18:07 PM
Alistair Brownlee wins Madrid Marathon
World title holder Javier Gomez was put firmly in his place on his own territory in Madrid by not one Brownlee brother but by two!
How Gomez, who finished third in the Madrid triathlon, must hate the very name of Brownlee for this is the third successive year Alistair Brownlee has taken the Madrid title but the first time younger brother Jonathan has whipped him on his own turf.
Alistair Brownlee beat his brother Jonathan by two seconds to pile the pressure on world title rival Javier Gomez with a winning time of 1:51.07 to ensure his run of victories in Madrid continued.
Alistair, 23, finished two seconds ahead of his younger brother Jonathan with reigning champion Gomez finishing third, 44 seconds behind the winner.
"Madrid is a race I've always raced well in, so a Brownlee one-two has been a while coming" said Alistair.
After a fast swim, 12 athletes broke away early on the bike and opened up a 90 second gap by the second transition before the Brownlees dominated the run.
The decisive moment came when Alistair broke away with two kilometres to go - a move that the rest of the field had no answer to. Alistair could even afford to wait to celebrate with his brother before they crossed the finish line.
Reigning Olympic champion Jan Frodeno was sixth with Britons Will Clarke and Stuart Hayes finishing 24th and 35th, respectively.
The win puts both Brownlees in poll position for the Olympic qualification races in London in August and Beijing in September.