Alistair Brownlee was left to rue a historic drafting penalty for falling short of a first T100 World Tour podium in Ibiza.
After a fitness and incident-plagued start to the inaugural T100 season, Brownlee made a solid six-week block of training count with an excellent showing in the Balearic heat.
The Yorkshireman was in contention for a top-three finish after a solid swim and he got himself into a six-strong leading group on the 80km bike leg.
“The swim was really good, very chilled,” said the two-time Olympic gold medallist.
“I wanted to have a nice, relaxed race to be honest so I just let people catch me, got on their feet and chilled.”
Then disaster struck as Brownlee incurred a penalty for drafting another rider 60km into the bike course, the first such sanction in T100 history.
It saw Brownlee dropped from the leading group and left him with too much to do to overhaul German wildcard Mika Noodt and reach the podium.
He crossed the line in fourth place, 45 seconds behind Noodt in a time of three hours 14 minutes and 15 seconds, with the penalty lasting for a minute.
“The penalty was fair enough, to be honest,” said Brownlee. “I rode into the draft zone, saw the red light and didn’t come out of it quick enough a couple of times.
“You definitely get a physiological advantage from having a penalty. You get a minute’s rest, which doesn’t sound like long, but it feels long!
“I took that and rode the last lap on my own and ran just trying to catch people. I’m pleased to feel good and actually finish.”
Brownlee, 36, enjoyed the majority of the Ibiza course but was disappointed by the profile of the bike leg.
“I’ve loved being in Ibiza, this swim is stunning, beautiful clear water,” said Brownlee.
“I liked the twisty, challenging course with all of the crowds in the old town. The bike is a shame, it’s a main road and there are so many beautiful roads we can ride in Ibiza.
“Triathlon is about coming to these locations and showing off their natural beauty and learning a bit about the places and we rode up and down a main road.”
Belgian Marten van Riel outran French rival Sam Laidlow to claim a thrilling second victory of the season.
Van Riel is now in pole position to be crowned the first-ever T100 world champion with two races to go, as the pros hit Las Vegas next month before November’s final in Dubai.
“(To win the title) was my biggest goal before this year,” said Van Riel. “I’m all in for it. If I do my best on every single race and I keep getting good results, I’ll be close. It’s definitely a goal.”
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