Summary The next round of the Series is at San Diego on April 19.
AUCKLAND (AP) - Javier Gomez held out Spanish compatriot Mario Mola to win the elite men s race at Saturday s Auckland International Triathon, the first leg of the ITU World Series, claiming his fourth win from as many starts on the downtown course.
Gomez completed the 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer cycle and 10-kilometer run in 1 hour, 55 minutes, 51 seconds; 12 seconds ahead of Mola and 31 seconds ahead of Portugal s Joao Silva in third place.
"It s pretty amazing to win here again, fourth race in New Zealand," Gomez said.
"I had a good swim and was solid on the bike then my teammate Mario made me run really fast and so happy for him making his first podium."
Gomez emerged from the water in fourth place behind Varga and Russians Ivan Vasiliev and Igor Polyanskiy. He then worked hard in the early stages of the eight-lap cycle to stay with the leading group and to avoid the trouble that hit some athletes further back in the field.
Mola punctured on the fourth lap but managed to recover quickly to be near the front of the field starting the run.
Gomez, Mola, Silva and New Zealand s Tony Dodds led early on the running leg but Silva and Dodds soon dropped off, leaving the Spanish pair to fight out the finish.
Gomez, who opened his season with a win in a World Cup event in Australia three weeks ago, was the stronger of the pair and managed to surge away in the final kilometer for his third-straight ITU victory. Mola claimed his first podium finish and Silva dug deep to take third ahead of Laurent Vidal of France.
Annie Haug of Germany followed Gomez in posting back-to-back victories in Auckland when she took out the elite women s race in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
The German was well down after the swim but lifted herself into contention with an exceptional first lap on the bike. She then used her trademark late sprint to clear away from a group of four competitors on the run, winning by three seconds from Maaike Caelers of the Netherlands.
Haug, Caelers, Felicity Abram of Australia and Kate McIlroy of New Zealand were in a tight bunch coming to the last kilometer of the run. Sensing victory, Haug made her bid early and opened a gap on the other three runners, then had to hold out a strong late finish by Caelers to claim her win.
Abram was third 13 seconds behind Haug and McIlroy fourth a further 10 seconds behind.
"I put the hammer down on the first lap of the cycle, then was able to relax a little bit rather than try to do everything on my own," Haug said.
"That last kilometer on the run felt like more than a kilometer...it felt like two kilometers. It was maybe the hardest kilometer I ve ever run and Maaike Caelers was right behind me and chasing me.
"I thought oh heck, it s a long way to the finish line" but I could do it and I m very happy. I didn t expect it and I m overwhelmed."
The next round of the Series is at San Diego on April 19.
