As the afternoon sun peaked, the men hit the water for the 2006 ITU Mazatlan World Cup triathlon. A star-studded field was in Mexico for the fifth stop on the 2006 World Cup tour. Rasmus Henning (DEN) was the winner in 1:49:16 after a strong swim put him with the lead group for the entire race. The silver medal went to Andy Potts (USA) after narrowly defeating Jan Frodeno (GER) at the line. Their finishing times were 1:49:36 and 1:49:37 respectively.
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The race was perfect for me, said Henning. I was close to the front the whole time. When we were biking I knew I was going to win this.
A large group of men came out of the water together that included the three podium finishers. It was a group of nine that went for the early break and worked very well together stretching their lead to almost three minutes heading into transition two.
We were working so hard on the bike. Everyone was shouting at each other to keep working and keep going, Potts explained.
The chase group grew to 34 people during the bike but continued to lose time. It was not until the fifth of seven laps that Stephane Poulat (FRA) made a break to try and bridge the gap. The remaining USA men tried to follow suit by pursuing Poulat but they could not keep up or catch the leaders.
In the first kilometre of the run Henning, Potts, Frodeno and Bruno Pais (POR) broke away and ran together until Henning took the lead and never looked back leaving the other podium spots up for grabs. It was Potts and Frodeno who made their move with 200 metres to go. They battled stride for stride all the way to the finish when Potts stole half a step and claimed the silver medal.
It was like a replay of the 2004 World Championships. I got ahead a little then he [Potts] got ahead, then me, then he was just too strong at the end, said Frodeno. Im really happy to be on the podium in the first race of the season.
2006 ITU Mazatlan World Cup Elite Men
1.HENNING, Rasmus (DEN)1:49:16
2.POTTS, Andy (USA)1:49:36
3.FRODENO, Jan (GER)1:49:37
4.PAIS, Bruno (POR)1:49:42
5.UNGER, Daniel (GER)1:50:25
6.POULAT, Stephane (FRA)1:51:04
7.RANA, Ivan (ESP)1:51:55
8.KEMPER, Hunter (USA)1:51:57
9.WHITFIELD, Simon (CAN)1:52:05
10.SUDRIE, Sylvain (FRA)1:52:18