Leeds

:00:15. > :00:27.# Did you ever wanted? # Did you want it bad?

:00:28. > :00:31.# In my heart, in this cold heart # I believe if I'd just try

:00:32. > :00:46.# You believe in you. Good afternoon, everybody, and

:00:47. > :00:52.welcome to round four of the World Triathlon Series, or, as it is

:00:53. > :00:55.officially called, the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds.

:00:56. > :01:01.We are set for what is going to be an epic day of racing. The city has

:01:02. > :01:06.been buzzing all weekend. It's only the second time it has hosted a

:01:07. > :01:11.World Series race. Just like in 2016, hordes of spectators have been

:01:12. > :01:16.making their way onto the streets of Leeds. We are expecting around

:01:17. > :01:20.80,000 people for the men's and women's races. You can expect every

:01:21. > :01:24.single one of them to make their voices heard. And you can expect the

:01:25. > :01:30.local fans to bring the noise as well. Certainly off the back of an

:01:31. > :01:35.England under 20s World Cup win. Incredible stuff just here on BBC

:01:36. > :01:42.Two. We have a line-up of athletes all hoping to impress here in Leeds

:01:43. > :01:47.this afternoon, including, say it quietly, the Brownlee brothers. They

:01:48. > :01:52.will be here for the first and only time in 2017. We also have a very

:01:53. > :01:59.impressive women's race coming up, including the world champion Flora

:02:00. > :02:04.Duffy. Down at the start, about five kilometres that way, is Louise

:02:05. > :02:12.Mitchell. Good morning to you. This is the pontoon they will be diving

:02:13. > :02:18.off shortly. With me here is Mark Jenkins, former Team GB triathlete.

:02:19. > :02:23.This is a really nervy moment. They are just arriving behind us. What is

:02:24. > :02:29.it like for them? This women can be the most important part of the race

:02:30. > :02:34.for many athletes. They are really nervous for the swim. The water is

:02:35. > :02:38.about 16.5 degrees, so our girls are used to the cold, so that's a good

:02:39. > :02:44.thing for them. Fingers crossed for them. You are here throughout the

:02:45. > :02:48.afternoon. Thank you. We will be hearing from Mrs Jenkins a little

:02:49. > :02:52.bit later in the programme in the commentary box. Leading the line for

:02:53. > :02:58.Great Britain in the women's race will be Non Stanford, who had a 2016

:02:59. > :03:04.Olympics to remember, but possibly for the wrong reasons. She was

:03:05. > :03:10.beaten to bronze by her then housemate and Team GB team-mate,

:03:11. > :03:16.Vicky Holland. She will be keen to be back on the podium here in Leeds.

:03:17. > :03:21.She spoke to Louise Mitchell. It is lovely to be here in your hometown.

:03:22. > :03:26.Where are we going? A few little hills. We ride around here quite a

:03:27. > :03:37.lot. This is part of our Monday leap. Let's go. I'm coming. This is

:03:38. > :03:42.a full-time job, isn't it? Yeah, it really is. The life of the

:03:43. > :03:47.triathlete is very quiet. If it isn't, you probably are not training

:03:48. > :03:54.enough. Do you ever question why you are doing this? Yes. Most races,

:03:55. > :04:02.there is a part that isn't fun. Aaron Royle, your boyfriend or

:04:03. > :04:08.partner? Boyfriend. Partner sounds a bit old. Initially he was a bit

:04:09. > :04:14.shocked at how wet it was here. He is very disappointed that his Aussie

:04:15. > :04:20.tan has faded. Vicky has moved away. Do you miss her a little bit? Miss

:04:21. > :04:26.her loads. The first few months especially. Hopefully she misses me.

:04:27. > :04:31.I'm sure she does! What are your aims for Leeds? To smash it? Always.

:04:32. > :04:38.You want to deliver in front of your home crowd and give the British man

:04:39. > :04:46.is a win. Non, thank you so much. Thank you for coming. Was very glad

:04:47. > :04:52.to show you around. Thank you. No doubt Non is going to go for it here

:04:53. > :04:57.in Leeds today. Somebody who knows exactly how and why is her former

:04:58. > :05:04.housemate and Team GB colleague, Vicky Holland. She is going to go

:05:05. > :05:08.blazing for this race. Absolutely. Leeds is her adopted city. She was

:05:09. > :05:13.disappointed with her race here last year, and she has had a little

:05:14. > :05:18.injury struggle and some illness recently, but I really feel she has

:05:19. > :05:25.the shape, form and class to pull something off today. And without

:05:26. > :05:29.Gwen Jorgensen, the biggest name in triathlon out of action, pregnant

:05:30. > :05:38.and expecting her first baby. This could be a chance. Yes, Non has been

:05:39. > :05:43.doing great. She has become very known for this swim- bike breakaway,

:05:44. > :05:48.and it has gone so well for her today in every race she does. I

:05:49. > :05:53.think she will do nothing different today. In the commentary box, Helen

:05:54. > :05:58.Jenkins, Andy Anderson and Matt Shilton.

:05:59. > :06:07.COMMENTATOR: Good afternoon everybody. The athletes are lined

:06:08. > :06:14.up, diving and swimming in Waterloo lake in Roundhay Park. They will

:06:15. > :06:24.complete 1500 metres. The bike stage is just short of 40 K and we will

:06:25. > :06:28.complete the race with a run. The water is a little cool, so it is a

:06:29. > :06:35.wet suit race, but conditions are pretty good, as we say good

:06:36. > :06:40.afternoon to former world duathlete on champion, any Anderson. Good

:06:41. > :06:47.afternoon. The field is a little smaller than we see usually. Just

:06:48. > :06:52.over 30 athletes. Cold water, but it doesn't look like it is affecting

:06:53. > :06:56.the athletes at the moment. They are used to racing in all conditions.

:06:57. > :07:04.Flora Duffy and Non Stanford, my two picks for the day, were very close

:07:05. > :07:09.on the pontoon. Non had a great swim in Yokohama, and she will be happy

:07:10. > :07:16.to be close to flora. A good choice for her. That is the voice of Helen

:07:17. > :07:20.Jenkins, the 2008 world triathlon champion, joining us in the

:07:21. > :07:31.commentary box in Leeds this weekend. They are on their way. A

:07:32. > :07:39.pretty decent pace. I think that is Jess leading there on the side. Key

:07:40. > :07:42.in the early stages of this race, particularly for Non Stanford, who

:07:43. > :07:48.didn't have a good swim here last year, is to make sure she gets

:07:49. > :07:53.herself on some fast feet. She had a great swim in Yokohama. One of the

:07:54. > :07:58.best we have seen. Unfortunately, crashed there, and put her chances

:07:59. > :08:03.of being on the podium behind her. She did finish in a strong sixth

:08:04. > :08:19.place at the end of the race. Really important for her to have a good

:08:20. > :08:20.swim. It is really important in Leeds, and this is a small field.

:08:21. > :08:25.Positives and negatives to having a small field. The negatives, there

:08:26. > :08:33.are a lot more gaps in a swim like this. The positives, if you struggle

:08:34. > :08:42.with the swim, there is more space. A 1500 metre swim, two clockwise

:08:43. > :08:48.gaps in Roundhay Park. The athletes head to the first transition area,

:08:49. > :08:55.known as T1, to collect their bikes to begin uphill, stage two. A ride

:08:56. > :09:00.of 38.6 kilometres, slightly shorter than the official Olympic distance

:09:01. > :09:07.of 40 kilometres. These are just taking us up to the total of 38.6

:09:08. > :09:12.kilometres, and not representative of the mileage covered. The first

:09:13. > :09:18.part of the bike leg takes them south-west, taking in the sights and

:09:19. > :09:25.sounds of the suburbs of Moortown, Headingley and Burnley, and into the

:09:26. > :09:29.historic city centre. Then through the centre of Leeds, through Park

:09:30. > :09:37.Square, Millennium Square, and then up and down the hedgerow. Part three

:09:38. > :09:41.begins in the second transition area, or T2. Situated in Millennium

:09:42. > :09:48.Square, where the triathletes will leave their bikes and begin the

:09:49. > :09:53.10,000 metre run, over four laps of 2.5 kilometres each. Expect total

:09:54. > :10:02.times of around one hour 50 minutes for the men and two hours for the

:10:03. > :10:08.women. 1.2 kilometres left in the water, so they are still in the

:10:09. > :10:13.opening lap. Jessica Learmonth leading the way for Great Britain.

:10:14. > :10:18.Following the injury suffered by Georgia Taylor-Brown, who we believe

:10:19. > :10:23.turned an ankle in training, the British women's contingent is down

:10:24. > :10:31.to three. Non Stanford, India Lee, and Jess Lee a month. Others to look

:10:32. > :10:36.out for our Kirsten Kasper. Flora Duffy, the reigning world champion,

:10:37. > :10:42.has number nine. 33 athletes in total making the turn here. You

:10:43. > :10:48.mentioned Georgia Taylor-Brown there. She was really ready to race.

:10:49. > :10:52.She was incredibly excited yesterday, and apparently she went

:10:53. > :10:57.over on her ankle on a little jog out last night, and it was the ankle

:10:58. > :11:01.she had surgery. Coming into this race on the back of a great win in

:11:02. > :11:05.Spain, so we were all very disappointed not to see her today.

:11:06. > :11:12.It's really disappointing that Georgia is not getting race today. A

:11:13. > :11:18.real talent for the future. She lives in Leeds and she loves it, but

:11:19. > :11:22.I have every faith that she will come back stronger than ever. This

:11:23. > :11:28.swim is interesting because a few big names are missing today. Of

:11:29. > :11:32.course, yourself, Helen, but also Vicky Holland, Gwen Jorgensen,

:11:33. > :11:38.pregnant as well, and Andrea Hewitt has decided not to come. Was that a

:11:39. > :11:46.tactical decision on her part? Probably. She will miss Edmonton and

:11:47. > :11:51.Leeds this year, and those are known as the colder races in the cold

:11:52. > :11:57.water, and Andrea struggles in them. You have to make tactical decisions

:11:58. > :12:02.when there's nine races in the year. 33 acres, a former quarry here. It

:12:03. > :12:08.was constructed by soldiers who had returned from the Napoleonic Wars,

:12:09. > :12:14.hence the name Waterloo Lake. There is a dam at the south end that used

:12:15. > :12:19.to be alive though. It is 18 metres deep in places, this late in the

:12:20. > :12:25.centre of Roundhay Park, which is 700 acres, one of the biggest public

:12:26. > :12:32.parks in Europe. The swim looks really strung out. Everyone is in a

:12:33. > :12:37.long line. What is interesting is this is a small field, but we are

:12:38. > :12:43.also missing some of the big swimmers, such as Carolyn rude today

:12:44. > :12:49.from Spain, who is often at the front of the swim. We are looking at

:12:50. > :12:53.a couple of strong swimmers, Flora Duffy and Jessica as well, and

:12:54. > :13:00.Kirsten Kasper from the USA. Are there any other swimmers we should

:13:01. > :13:17.be looking out for? One of the Japanese swimmers, Taca Sharkey,

:13:18. > :13:24.Takahashi -- Takahashi from Spain. Jess Lee a month pushing the pace

:13:25. > :13:30.here. This is a very local race for her. She comes from tad Caster,

:13:31. > :13:37.around 30 minutes from Leeds. She had a crash in Yokohama, Jess Lee a

:13:38. > :13:45.month. But she got back on hope bike and carried on. 890 metres to go.

:13:46. > :13:52.Being shadowed all the way here by the boats and the kayaks. There has

:13:53. > :13:55.been a bit of talk in recent weeks about swim behaviour. Not too much

:13:56. > :14:00.of an issue with a small field, but we talked about it with British

:14:01. > :14:04.triathlon last night. It has been an issue with people getting ducked and

:14:05. > :14:09.having their goggles removed, shenanigans at the turn. Well but

:14:10. > :14:14.happened today? Probably not with a smaller field. With a lot of that

:14:15. > :14:17.kind of thing, it's not intentional. There's a lot of roughness and

:14:18. > :14:22.physicality in the swim, and you just have to deal with it. But

:14:23. > :14:26.sometimes there is intent, and it is quite noticeable, so it's good they

:14:27. > :14:31.are going to start policing it more strongly. The idea is that they are

:14:32. > :14:36.going to have more eyes at these stages in the swim, when they turn

:14:37. > :14:40.around the boys. In the men's race, when the pace is fast and you might

:14:41. > :14:46.have 30 or 40 guys arriving at the turn at the same time, you do need

:14:47. > :14:51.eyes on the scene, making sure that nobody is playing dirty. So, the end

:14:52. > :14:57.of lap one, halfway through the swim. We should get a check on the

:14:58. > :14:59.runners and riders at this stage. Jess Learmonth from Great Britain is

:15:00. > :15:19.the first to emerge. Non Stanford, 18 seconds off the

:15:20. > :15:23.pace. We talked last night, we were sure Non needed a good swim to set

:15:24. > :15:29.up for a chance today. 18 seconds halfway, is that good, bad,

:15:30. > :15:36.indifferent? I noticed as they were coming out of the swim, there was

:15:37. > :15:41.one loner swimmer and it was Non. There's a big gap between her and

:15:42. > :15:46.the second pack but she is finding it hard to get back on now. It's

:15:47. > :15:50.going to be tough for Non, but she has clear water to her advantage and

:15:51. > :15:55.she's a strong swimmer. She has great endurance and has got to get

:15:56. > :15:59.her head down and focus on her feet and if she is in contact towards the

:16:00. > :16:07.end of the swim, she has good chance of staying in that front pack. 18

:16:08. > :16:14.seconds off the pace, Non Stanford. Jess Learmouth forcing the pace. As

:16:15. > :16:21.she takes out on the early stages of lap two, we can go to the pontoon.

:16:22. > :16:24.Absolutely. Fascinating to see them come out of here. I know they are

:16:25. > :16:31.trying to police the swimmer that more. They are trying to look at

:16:32. > :16:36.things. Yes, 60 athletes on the start line, a similar standard,

:16:37. > :16:41.every athlete wants to get to that first boy first and it's only 250

:16:42. > :16:44.metres away. 60 athletes coming together, it gets very physical and

:16:45. > :16:49.you don't want to impede someone's progress so they want to make sure

:16:50. > :16:54.there's no unfair play in that area. How would they police it? A video

:16:55. > :17:00.camera, look at the footage after it happened and make sure nobody has

:17:01. > :17:04.impeded anybody else's progress, punched another athlete. It is for

:17:05. > :17:09.everyone's safety and you want a fair race. It's difficult to do that

:17:10. > :17:14.because half of it is underwater. It's very difficult and sometimes

:17:15. > :17:18.athletes get held under and that's what you want to prevent. If they

:17:19. > :17:23.see something go wrong, they can penalised later, can they? Yes, if

:17:24. > :17:30.they see something happen, they could penalised the athlete in T1 or

:17:31. > :17:36.T2. It's good about going to police the swim. Thank you very much for

:17:37. > :17:40.the moment. We have got an arrowhead formed at the front, the front group

:17:41. > :17:45.and then there is a loner swimmer, maybe two together, it's difficult

:17:46. > :17:49.to tell from this angle. We think Non Stanford could be in that second

:17:50. > :17:55.small-group. That could be Non off the back and we are not going to

:17:56. > :18:01.know until they get out on the front and we can see exactly, but I'm

:18:02. > :18:07.hoping she has made the front. Eight minutes and 50 seconds, 750 metres,

:18:08. > :18:12.that's a pretty fast pace and it looks like Jess is pushing on the

:18:13. > :18:18.pace. That is not going to help Non, is it? Probably not but she doesn't

:18:19. > :18:23.have the information. She will just be swimming is faster she can. When

:18:24. > :18:30.she gets out of the water, she can assess and sea watches to do them.

:18:31. > :18:39.The last 440 metres in the swim. Just to remind you, stage two is the

:18:40. > :18:45.bike. Normally the Olympic distance is 40 kilometres but we are short of

:18:46. > :18:50.that in Leeds, 38.6, and we have a transition area, one in the Park,

:18:51. > :18:53.the athlete will collect their bikes, and one down in Millennium

:18:54. > :18:58.Square, where they will leave their bicycles before commencing the run.

:18:59. > :19:03.It is a split transition here in Leeds. The other feature of this

:19:04. > :19:07.course in Leeds that we are about to see is the stiff climb coming out of

:19:08. > :19:11.transition. Assumes they get on their bikes, they have to go

:19:12. > :19:15.straight uphill and that's unusual. It be very tough for the athletes.

:19:16. > :19:20.If you are pushing as hard as you can to come out of transition and go

:19:21. > :19:24.up a hill really tough. If you have been able to conserve energy, you

:19:25. > :19:29.could hit it with pressure but everybody will be hurting on that

:19:30. > :19:32.bike for the first two: it is. The athletes, I wonder if they've had a

:19:33. > :19:36.chance to have a session where they've taken on the climb after a

:19:37. > :19:41.swim because that could help prepare you ahead of this race? Mentally it

:19:42. > :19:45.would definitely help prepare you because you know what to expect, how

:19:46. > :19:49.hard it's going to be. If you prepare for it, it helps in the race

:19:50. > :19:53.but any kind of session where you have done swim to bike work to

:19:54. > :20:00.prepare for this event is going to help. A lot of athletes do the bike

:20:01. > :20:04.to run session but don't often train the swim to bike and, in this case

:20:05. > :20:09.in Leeds, it's quite important you have got your best game going out

:20:10. > :20:12.onto the bike. Yes, they are logistically harder but the girls

:20:13. > :20:18.were prepared for this the best they can and I sure they have been

:20:19. > :20:24.practising. Champion Flora Duffy from Bermuda, there will be a race

:20:25. > :20:32.in Bermuda in 2018, she is up with the leaders, Jess Learmouth. I'm not

:20:33. > :20:35.sure if Duffy has taken a position at the front of this race but the

:20:36. > :20:40.key thing is we have a decent working group of maybe a dozen

:20:41. > :20:44.athletes on the bike and it will be interesting to see if Duffy, one of

:20:45. > :20:50.the best bike is out there, tries to break away on that hill. Is that a

:20:51. > :20:54.tactic she could employ? I can expect her to go forward on the bike

:20:55. > :20:59.and it's going to be hard for these girls to hang with her on that first

:21:00. > :21:03.pillar. Flora's strength in the climbing and bike skills, we haven't

:21:04. > :21:06.seen anyone as strong as there for a long time so these girls have got to

:21:07. > :21:11.be repaired if they want to make the front group, they have got to stay

:21:12. > :21:15.with her on that part of the course. In the last 12 months, she has

:21:16. > :21:22.really mastered the art of swim to bike. The same as the Brownlee

:21:23. > :21:25.brothers, they work so hard into the first few calamitous and that is

:21:26. > :21:31.where the real damage is done in the race, isn't it? Yes, she's not

:21:32. > :21:35.scared of it and has ridden races and one races on her own so she's

:21:36. > :21:38.not scared of going for it whereas there is uncertainty if you've never

:21:39. > :21:43.done it before but Flora knows she can do it from a lot of different

:21:44. > :21:49.positions. Just looking at the swim now, it is totally strung out, not

:21:50. > :21:53.something we see very often in World Triathlon Series races. We often see

:21:54. > :22:00.a big group, a gap and a big group but here we have 11 athletes, a gap

:22:01. > :22:04.to Non, and then dribs and drabs, which will make it very hard for the

:22:05. > :22:09.second pack to come together. We don't see this in the women's race

:22:10. > :22:13.but more often in the men's, with the superfast swimmers. It's

:22:14. > :22:17.exciting to see the women are pushing the swim as well. It will be

:22:18. > :22:24.a tough day today starting off with such a fast swim. 120 metres to go.

:22:25. > :22:30.They are approaching the end of lap to now. The way the bike works,

:22:31. > :22:34.because they will be cycling down towards the city, beginning with

:22:35. > :22:40.that stiff climb out of the park, at 12.3 kilometre ride to the city

:22:41. > :22:45.centre, just over 12 K to get them from here in the north of the city

:22:46. > :22:54.from Roundhay Park into the city centre and following that, 3.76 laps

:22:55. > :23:01.in the centre of Leeds. It'll be quite intimate and loud when they

:23:02. > :23:05.make the sevens circuit in the city, but they have this long, looping

:23:06. > :23:10.right which sends them on the climb out of the park and then down to

:23:11. > :23:18.Headingley, Headingley Stadium, into the city to go first, so this trial

:23:19. > :23:24.form brings a lot of variety -- triathlon on and that's why the

:23:25. > :23:31.athletes like it so much. It looks like we've got a couple of breakaway

:23:32. > :23:35.swimmers. That is Jess Learmouth breaking away in the final moments

:23:36. > :23:41.of the swim, and nine swimmers on their feet as they head for the exit

:23:42. > :23:45.now. Just over 17.5 minutes so far. Jess Learmouth has held it together

:23:46. > :23:51.and will be one of the first out of the water for Great Britain. All the

:23:52. > :24:02.races involved will see their names and their times come up.

:24:03. > :24:12.Creston has made a bit of time. Hit team-mate has helped along with Juri

:24:13. > :24:19.Ide from Japan. We hope that Non Stanford might be one of the next

:24:20. > :24:28.out of the water. In fact, that wasn't Non. She is a little further

:24:29. > :24:32.back now. So, unfortunately for Non Stanford, she appears to have

:24:33. > :24:38.dropped backwards during the second lap and hopefully she will be with

:24:39. > :24:46.this group here. Gillian Backhouse. Still no sign of Non Stanford, the

:24:47. > :24:51.former world champion. Jess Learmouth in transition, has to get

:24:52. > :24:57.things right. Her wet suit has to go in the box. Helmet clipped up. Flora

:24:58. > :25:03.Duffy goes through the motions. This is all a well rehearsed routine.

:25:04. > :25:07.Duffy, the world champion. Non Stanford, just out of the water

:25:08. > :25:14.nearly a minute down. It's a shame for Maya Kingma and Non, they've

:25:15. > :25:21.lost time. She has to get herself back towards the front end of this

:25:22. > :25:28.race. Now they climb. Jess Learmouth is taking it on for Great Britain.

:25:29. > :25:33.Jess is a strong cyclist and if she can go for this, she could take the

:25:34. > :25:34.Flora Duffy route and go it alone. I think we'll find Barack Obama won't

:25:35. > :25:46.be to the Dutch athletes as well, we can

:25:47. > :25:52.see her coming out of the water, Non Stanford. Her time is pretty quick.

:25:53. > :26:00.They have had a really fast swim. It's not often we see Flora five

:26:01. > :26:04.seconds down. Jess Learmouth out on her own. She is taking this on and

:26:05. > :26:11.the crowds around in this part of the park are seeing the British

:26:12. > :26:16.cyclist coming through and they are delighted. Let's go to hear from

:26:17. > :26:23.Louise. It is so intense right here. We saw Non coming out. It is tough

:26:24. > :26:27.up there. It is a tough hill. Some of them are falling off their bikes

:26:28. > :26:37.because they are in the wrong gear so Non has got to chase hard to make

:26:38. > :26:42.the front part of the park. Gillian Backhouse is behind her. People are

:26:43. > :26:47.not being able to get their shoes on. What is going on here

:26:48. > :26:51.physically? Some of them are in a compromise position, not in the

:26:52. > :26:55.front part. They have got to work as hard as they can know to get

:26:56. > :26:59.themselves in the best position they can. It is so intense. You get that

:27:00. > :27:04.feeling they got to get this thing right and there's so much pressure.

:27:05. > :27:08.This is the make and break part of the race now. They could spend the

:27:09. > :27:15.whole race chasing Fulford if that front pack forms early, it could be

:27:16. > :27:21.race over. OK, thank you. What a start to the cycle for Jess

:27:22. > :27:27.Learmouth, powering up that hill. We were expecting Duffy to lead the

:27:28. > :27:33.charge but Jess Learmouth has established quite elite. There's

:27:34. > :27:37.another group of five who are nine or ten seconds behind. In fact, I

:27:38. > :27:43.think there are six athletes in that second group. I saw Jess get a good

:27:44. > :27:46.time check from one of our British coaches so it'll be interesting

:27:47. > :27:51.because the outcome for the race was we wanted a British woman on top of

:27:52. > :27:54.the podium and we know Non is the best chance of that so it'll be

:27:55. > :27:59.interesting to see now whether Jess Learmouth will try to get Non into

:28:00. > :28:04.the race or she will sit in the front group and not take any terms

:28:05. > :28:07.and contribute. Looking at the front pack, it's an interesting one. Quite

:28:08. > :28:14.a few new athletes in there, certainly be having seen a lot of

:28:15. > :28:18.Maya Kingma who was out of the water, Junior athlete and

:28:19. > :28:26.inexperienced at this level. Flora Duffy is a strong cyclist, on the

:28:27. > :28:31.tall may be, so has she got anyone to work with her today? It will be

:28:32. > :28:37.tough for Flora. No one is coming through with her. This is normal

:28:38. > :28:41.practice with Flora, she is used to riding as hard as she can,

:28:42. > :28:45.monitoring her wattage, her power, and she knows what she can run off

:28:46. > :28:49.certain power and we have seen Jess go backwards so I'm pretty sure

:28:50. > :28:54.she's going to be maybe holding on and trying to get Non to the front

:28:55. > :29:01.of the race. That will be good to see. She need a bit of help. Along

:29:02. > :29:06.with Ashleigh Gentle from Australia, they are the strongest in the pack.

:29:07. > :29:09.She came out of the water ahead of Ashleigh Gentle and she wants to

:29:10. > :29:16.stay there and stay away from Ashleigh Gentle because she was

:29:17. > :29:19.faster in Yokohama. I think that's true, she's been running really well

:29:20. > :29:28.and has been in great shape to Commonwealth Games, to get into the

:29:29. > :29:35.Commonwealth Games. Non also had a crash in that race. Yes, that's

:29:36. > :29:39.absolutely true. She managed to pick yourself back up. And then she ran

:29:40. > :29:43.through to finish in sixth position. A strong race, even though she fell

:29:44. > :29:49.off. Flora Duffy at the front, no surprise. Kirsten Kasper, a

:29:50. > :29:53.newcomer, she wears number one today, she's only been around for

:29:54. > :29:59.the last year so, great start of the season, finishing third in Yokohama

:30:00. > :30:00.and she got seventh as well. It's given her that number one spot

:30:01. > :30:12.today, so what she can do today? Kirsten is an improving athlete, and

:30:13. > :30:16.this season, she's had her best start to the season. Abu Dhabi

:30:17. > :30:22.wasn't as good, but she had some mechanical problems. I would say she

:30:23. > :30:26.would be more of a strong runner. Her bike strength might not be quite

:30:27. > :30:34.there yet, but it will be interesting to see what she can do.

:30:35. > :30:40.Working as a pack, this group will aim to close down Learmonth quite

:30:41. > :30:46.quickly. I think she has gone behind them now. I beg your pardon, she

:30:47. > :30:52.has. We haven't got Kirsten Kasper in that group. I think that Taylor

:30:53. > :31:02.Spivey and Betto. Those girls are strong athletes but not entirely

:31:03. > :31:08.well known on the world level,. It might be as much as they can do just

:31:09. > :31:14.to stay where they are. Going to be a frustrating day for Flora Duffy if

:31:15. > :31:20.she is on the front the entire way. Those seven loops of 3.76

:31:21. > :31:26.kilometres. By times it gets to the end of it, it will be tough for

:31:27. > :31:32.those at the front. Once they get into the town it is very technical.

:31:33. > :31:37.Seven laps of 3.76 kilometres with a lot of corners. You have to be very

:31:38. > :31:43.technical, and Flora is one of the best. It's going to be hard for

:31:44. > :31:48.these girls to stay with them. So a group of four, including the world

:31:49. > :31:51.champion. They have widened the gap significantly over the chasing

:31:52. > :31:56.group. We haven't seen anybody from the chasing group yet. This working

:31:57. > :32:00.group of four will head down through the various suburbs that take them

:32:01. > :32:06.to where the crowds are gathering in the city centre. People will be

:32:07. > :32:08.seven or eight deep on certain stretches, around Millennium Square.

:32:09. > :32:14.They will come through the transition area half a dozen times.

:32:15. > :32:19.The grandstands are packed down here now. The atmosphere is terrific. The

:32:20. > :32:25.sun has become the dominant weather factor, though we are expecting a

:32:26. > :32:30.shower or two. Hopefully, the roads will stay dry, because when they are

:32:31. > :32:34.on the tricky turns of the city centre, the last thing they will

:32:35. > :32:39.want is a wet road surface. After the weather in Yokohama and all the

:32:40. > :32:43.crashes, they will be very glad it is dry today. Fingers crossed. We

:32:44. > :32:49.had a lot of British athletes go down. Conditions in Yokohama were

:32:50. > :32:54.absolutely dreadful. The crowds here are great for the athletes. I was

:32:55. > :32:58.here spectating last year, and the atmosphere was incredible when they

:32:59. > :33:02.came through transition, especially for the home athletes. It really

:33:03. > :33:09.does make a difference. It does lift queue. Back with the front four.

:33:10. > :33:14.Flora Duffy on the front, looks like Alice Betto from Italy at the back

:33:15. > :33:19.of the pack. We haven't seen an awful lot from Alice Betto over the

:33:20. > :33:28.last few years. She had a not too bad season in 2015, but she has been

:33:29. > :33:34.very quiet the last couple of years. She had a nasty Achilles injury, so

:33:35. > :33:38.she had to miss Rio. She is on her way back up, and trying to make

:33:39. > :33:43.inroads into her running. She has always been a strong swimmer and

:33:44. > :33:49.relatively strong on the bikes, so probably more to come over the next

:33:50. > :33:55.two years or so. A good day for the other two athletes there, that is

:33:56. > :33:59.Maya Kingma from the Netherlands and Taylor Spivey from the US. They

:34:00. > :34:03.would not normally find themselves broken away from a World Triathlon

:34:04. > :34:08.Series race this early on the bike. It must be very exciting for these

:34:09. > :34:12.girls. It's not often you get to be in a small group at the head of a

:34:13. > :34:16.race. They will be buzzing and wanting to push on, and commit as

:34:17. > :34:21.much as they can. They will really be pushing it. The weather

:34:22. > :34:26.conditions are allowing the helicopter to fly to bring us these

:34:27. > :34:29.overhead shots. We didn't have any of that in Yokohama because the

:34:30. > :34:35.weather was so awful, the helicopter didn't get off the ground. 33

:34:36. > :34:40.kilometres left to right. They are still on the suburban stretch of

:34:41. > :34:54.this bike leg, which takes them 12 kilometres down to the city centre,

:34:55. > :35:00.and then seven laps of 3.76. We will hear shortly from Vicky Holland, who

:35:01. > :35:06.is down in the city centre at transition area. The Olympic runs

:35:07. > :35:11.medallist from Rio 2016. We will get her perspective on the way this race

:35:12. > :35:16.is unfolding, as the leading group of four have opened up an enormous

:35:17. > :35:21.lead. There is no one else on that shot. They have opened up a massive

:35:22. > :35:27.lead. It's interesting, because there were quite a few people near

:35:28. > :35:31.them on the swim. These four are working together. It will be really

:35:32. > :35:35.interesting to see who is forming into different groups behind when we

:35:36. > :35:42.get into the city centre. Hopefully when they do come into town, we will

:35:43. > :35:47.then get some time references and find out where that second pack is

:35:48. > :35:54.and what is going on behind this front four. Let's go down to the

:35:55. > :36:03.city centre to join or a Duboeuf. A really interesting race. Flora Duffy

:36:04. > :36:07.leading just like she did in 2016. A year ago, despite that commanding

:36:08. > :36:15.lead, she had to settle for silver. Can she put that right today? Flora,

:36:16. > :36:22.you had a fantastic 2016, becoming world champion. Does this you feel

:36:23. > :36:25.different? It does. Expectation attached to you, always getting

:36:26. > :36:30.introduced as the world champion. But I've had to get used to that and

:36:31. > :36:37.get used to be extra pressure. I'm really enjoying it. It's a special

:36:38. > :36:41.moment. A year ago in Leeds, you had that the brake on the bike with Jess

:36:42. > :36:47.and Lucy. How do you think the race might transpire this time? I have no

:36:48. > :36:56.idea. Last year was a big surprise, because of the team tactics. The

:36:57. > :37:01.British team thought the race would play out, but they didn't realise it

:37:02. > :37:06.would do in such a way. At the end of the race everyone was like, that

:37:07. > :37:11.was a bit awkward. But this year, a couple of the top British girls are

:37:12. > :37:18.not racing. Helen is pregnant and Vicki and Jodie are injured. But for

:37:19. > :37:21.me, my plan is the same. I am going to swim and by card. If I have

:37:22. > :37:28.people on the break, that's good, but if not, I have the confidence to

:37:29. > :37:39.just go for it. Why not? COMMENTATOR:, so the leading group,

:37:40. > :37:43.Flora Duffy, Maya Kingma, Alice Betto. We thought that Jess

:37:44. > :37:46.Learmonth might be in this pack. The first to come out of the swim and

:37:47. > :37:52.then she vanished. What happened there? We saw one of our coaches.

:37:53. > :37:57.She would have seen the time check back down to Non Stanford, and she

:37:58. > :38:03.probably decided to wait for Non and get her back into the race. This is

:38:04. > :38:07.a home race, so the aim is to get a British woman to the top of the

:38:08. > :38:13.podium. The girls decided between them that Non was the best transfer

:38:14. > :38:17.that, so they will be working to get Non back into the race. Non

:38:18. > :38:22.Stanford, the best run of the three. We were hoping for four, but with

:38:23. > :38:30.Taylor-Brown's withdrawal, we were left with three British athletes.

:38:31. > :38:34.Non Stanford now has company in the shape of Jess Learmonth, who will be

:38:35. > :38:38.working together to plug this gap. It is a big ask, because these four

:38:39. > :38:44.have steamed away from the chasing group. They also have India Lee back

:38:45. > :38:48.there, who is a really strong cyclist. I'm not sure where she

:38:49. > :38:52.finished coming out of the swim, but they have that positive of having

:38:53. > :38:58.her with them as well. I think she was around 20 seconds behind Non

:38:59. > :39:02.Stanford coming out of the water. It will be interesting to see what

:39:03. > :39:07.happens when these four, the leaders, get into town, because it

:39:08. > :39:12.gets a lot more technical there. I wonder if Flora will be better off

:39:13. > :39:15.on her own. How much these younger and less experienced athletes will

:39:16. > :39:21.be able to help when they get into town I don't know. The technical

:39:22. > :39:25.aspect of our sport is getting more important. There are more city

:39:26. > :39:30.centre races and small circuits, so it has to be part of the training

:39:31. > :39:34.now. You cannot just get away with being strong. Headingley Stadium,

:39:35. > :39:42.home of Yorkshire County Council Cricket club, Leeds Rhinos. A

:39:43. > :39:50.magnificent stadium, seen plenty of action over the years. And we'll see

:39:51. > :39:58.more this summer. The noise level is beginning to rise. Every Columbus

:39:59. > :40:04.that they put into this race, more and more spectators appear, as they

:40:05. > :40:09.get closer to the city centre. There is more noise building there. When

:40:10. > :40:13.they ride into the centre of Leeds for the first time, we expect the

:40:14. > :40:17.noise to be deafening. The crowds are being encouraged by the various

:40:18. > :40:22.announcers on the site. When they get past a Civic Hall, the

:40:23. > :40:27.grandstands are completely packed. Most are here to enjoy seeing the

:40:28. > :40:30.Brownlee brothers in their one and only appearance together on the

:40:31. > :40:36.World Triathlon Series, that they will be encouraging each of the

:40:37. > :40:41.triathletes today in the World Triathlon Series, which is round

:40:42. > :40:45.four of the series. Abu Dhabi in March, then the Gold Coast on

:40:46. > :40:51.Australia in early April, and then may in the rain-soaked event in

:40:52. > :40:57.Yokohama in Japan. Today marks the start of the European swing of the

:40:58. > :41:01.World Triathlon Series. We talked about the fact there is quite a

:41:02. > :41:05.small field in this race, particularly in the women's field.

:41:06. > :41:09.It could be because the athletes have raced quite hard. Some might

:41:10. > :41:15.have chosen just to have a bit of a break before the other European

:41:16. > :41:19.races begin. There is not a natural break in the season, so before the

:41:20. > :41:24.European races start, it is a chance for people to take that time and get

:41:25. > :41:28.some extra training in. We have a few people doing a few different

:41:29. > :41:32.races round the world. It's just a chance for a little pause in the

:41:33. > :41:39.season, which can be so refreshing to try and push on for the rest of

:41:40. > :41:42.the season. I wonder if some of the athletes were worried about the

:41:43. > :41:47.weather here in Leeds. But it's nice today. Around 22 degrees, and the

:41:48. > :41:52.sun is shining, so perfect conditions for racing. I think some

:41:53. > :41:57.were worried about the cold swim. The cold swim will affect some

:41:58. > :42:03.people, like Andrea Hewitt may have been worried about that. But the

:42:04. > :42:07.temperature is fine. Andrea Hewitt, the New Zealander, who had a

:42:08. > :42:11.fantastic start to the season, winning the first two races in Abu

:42:12. > :42:15.Dhabi and on the Gold Coast. But she is very affected by the cold, so no

:42:16. > :42:21.doubt she decided to sit this one out for that very reason. It's

:42:22. > :42:26.interesting that Flora is not taking all the terms here. She is letting

:42:27. > :42:30.the others take their turn and conserving that bit of energy, and

:42:31. > :42:35.making sure she is not going to get to the run having led the whole 38

:42:36. > :42:41.kilometres on the bike. It's a different style of biking. The first

:42:42. > :42:48.section is quite fast, almost like a time trial course. Fast, straight,

:42:49. > :42:53.wide roads. Then you hit the town, and the race completely changes. It

:42:54. > :42:57.does, so you need that Max Power out of the corners there, you need to be

:42:58. > :43:03.technically sound and sprinting out of the corners to put pressure in

:43:04. > :43:07.the others in your group. You have to train for both parts of the

:43:08. > :43:15.course. You need to train for the strong bit, the first 12 kilometres,

:43:16. > :43:20.and then the Max Power bit, the sort of criterium circuit. Seven laps of

:43:21. > :43:28.the city centre, three and three quarters kilometres for each lap.

:43:29. > :43:32.You can see the crowd beginning to grow. The numbers beginning to swell

:43:33. > :43:37.as they anticipate the arrival in the city centre. Looking down at

:43:38. > :43:42.Leeds town Hall, top right, and then they will go past the Leeds Civic

:43:43. > :43:50.Hall, just behind the main grandstand in Millennium Square.

:43:51. > :43:58.Flora Duffy of Bermuda, Alice Betto of Italy, Taylor Spire V of the

:43:59. > :44:03.United States of America, Maya Kingma of the Netherlands. -- Taylor

:44:04. > :44:09.Spivey. Now they hit the town centre for the first time. Here they will

:44:10. > :44:16.stay until the end of the race. They have seven laps to conclude on their

:44:17. > :44:22.bikes, and then the loops of the run to bring the full Olympic distance.

:44:23. > :44:26.It is the world champion, Flora Duffy of Bermuda, who leads the pack

:44:27. > :44:32.through to a rapturous welcome. They have come through the park to the

:44:33. > :44:38.city, and now the battle continues in downtown Leeds. Duffy, Spivey,

:44:39. > :44:42.Betto and Kingma. It will be interesting to see if these girls

:44:43. > :44:47.can stay with Flora through the technical section. The roads are

:44:48. > :44:52.dry, so that will help. I wonder if, before the start of this race, Flora

:44:53. > :44:56.Duffy played out a lot of different scenarios in her head of what could

:44:57. > :45:02.happen. She knows she is up there on the swim. She had an incredible

:45:03. > :45:06.bike. We can see her attacking. She said she wasn't sure what the

:45:07. > :45:10.British athletes would be out too. I do think she expected to find

:45:11. > :45:14.herself with three other relatively unknown athletes.

:45:15. > :45:20.It's properly not one of the scenario she went through. We are

:45:21. > :45:25.going to see the time check. That is Jessica at the front of a time group

:45:26. > :45:30.trying to minimise the gap. That is Non on her wheels, so that's great

:45:31. > :45:37.news. Pretty similar to what it was out of the swim. 65 seconds between

:45:38. > :45:42.the leaders and the chasers and the chasers include the former world

:45:43. > :45:45.champion Non Stanford and Jess Learmonth who was first out of the

:45:46. > :45:48.water and decided to help her team-mate and they will now go to

:45:49. > :45:55.work to try to reduce the lead that the Duffy group have. The athlete

:45:56. > :45:58.that's missing in that second chase pack for me is the Australian

:45:59. > :46:04.athlete Ashleigh Gentle to look to be just behind Non Stanford. She is

:46:05. > :46:10.the biggest threat on the run to Non but no sighting of Ashleigh Gentle

:46:11. > :46:13.who we saw coming out of the swim but is 30 seconds down on Non

:46:14. > :46:19.Stanford and we have yet to see her come through. That's pretty good.

:46:20. > :46:25.1.12 down. Definitely room to pull it down. I can't imagine they would

:46:26. > :46:30.get help from anybody else but they will try to close the gap. We saw

:46:31. > :46:32.Jess Learmonth one out of the water and spoke to her earlier in the

:46:33. > :46:41.week. What's it like for you racing in

:46:42. > :46:46.Leeds? Unbelievable. Last year was amazing. Best atmosphere you've ever

:46:47. > :46:52.variance? Of course, Leeds, definitely. I thought, if I don't

:46:53. > :46:56.ever race again, that's the biggest thing I'll ever do. So to be here

:46:57. > :47:02.again this year, I'm pretty sure the crowds are going to be bigger,

:47:03. > :47:05.hopefully and, yeah, it was just phenomenal. You change of Non

:47:06. > :47:10.Stanford. Has there been a discussion with her about helping

:47:11. > :47:16.her out on the bike? I train with Non. We're always to help each other

:47:17. > :47:19.out any race that we do. All of the World Series at the same so we try

:47:20. > :47:24.to communicate and make sure we do the best for one another so, yeah,

:47:25. > :47:32.all the British athletes are in it together. If I am with her I will

:47:33. > :47:37.definitely work with her. The key word there were "If I am with her"

:47:38. > :47:42.but you wasn't anywhere near. She did the generous thing and waited to

:47:43. > :47:47.help her along. We've had a lot of discussions within the richest team

:47:48. > :47:53.about these races and not everyone is going to be a race where we work

:47:54. > :47:57.together for the same goal because you don't want to stifle anybody's

:47:58. > :48:01.individual progression. But these big races, the home races, the

:48:02. > :48:04.championship races, it's worth communicating in working together as

:48:05. > :48:13.much as possible to get as many Brits on the podium. Great teamwork

:48:14. > :48:16.really from Jess to sit back and make sure Non was all right. She

:48:17. > :48:22.knows she is the strongest British runner in the so really important

:48:23. > :48:27.the whole team tried to get a British athlete on top of the

:48:28. > :48:30.podium. Jess has gone back to Non and she now finds herself one-minute

:48:31. > :48:35.down which, it's not looking too bad for her at the moment. It is not but

:48:36. > :48:38.they have to work hard to keep that gap the same or close it down a

:48:39. > :48:44.little bit but there are two there who know the city, they know each

:48:45. > :48:49.other, and it helps when you train with someone. They have a good shot

:48:50. > :48:52.at it, even if they minimise the gap it could help. You can see the

:48:53. > :48:57.numbers of terms they need to negotiate a. They will be doubly

:48:58. > :49:03.grateful it is dry because they have to do zigzag their way through the

:49:04. > :49:10.inner workings of Leeds city centre. Versus the chase group, which

:49:11. > :49:16.contains Non Stanford and Jess Learmonth including number one at

:49:17. > :49:21.the start, Kirsten Kasper, but they are more than one minute behind the

:49:22. > :49:25.leading quartet. It's as much fitness as it is technical skill now

:49:26. > :49:29.that will help them because actually there's not too many places on this

:49:30. > :49:32.course where they can get great speed, but it's how much time you

:49:33. > :49:37.can make up in a technical parts of the course. I think it's really

:49:38. > :49:40.conserving energy as well, because the better you are technically, you

:49:41. > :49:45.will conserve a bit more and you have someone at the back, Kirsten

:49:46. > :49:48.Kasper, technically not quite as good, but you time to work so much

:49:49. > :49:54.harder around every corner which will take a toll when it gets to the

:49:55. > :50:01.run. I'm quite surprised, we must be a lap into this city centre,

:50:02. > :50:05.criteria, seven loops we have of three kilometres and Flora has not

:50:06. > :50:10.dropped any of those three athletes. I'm slightly surprised by that,

:50:11. > :50:14.Helen? We don't know how she's feeling on the day. She may not be

:50:15. > :50:19.feeling brilliant. She could be thinking, my running is going well,

:50:20. > :50:22.why don't I tried to have the best run possible? She did well in

:50:23. > :50:28.Yokohama and had an injury over the winter, so I imagine she had a lot

:50:29. > :50:32.of confidence in her running. At the end of lap one, within the city

:50:33. > :50:42.itself, no change. We have the leading four. Taylor Spivey, Flora

:50:43. > :50:46.Duffy, Maya Kingma and Alice Betto and there are the Bermudan

:50:47. > :50:51.contingent who have made the journey to chair on the champion, half a

:50:52. > :50:56.dozen who've come from Bermuda to watch Flora Duffy race today. I

:50:57. > :51:01.think you are right about Flora's fun, going back to Stockholm last

:51:02. > :51:06.year, where she had a breakthrough race where she virtually raised from

:51:07. > :51:13.the front, took the lead, and led all the way. I remember you saying,

:51:14. > :51:20.she was 20 seconds up on you, Helen, and that was a breakthrough run, in

:51:21. > :51:24.Stockholm, last year, wasn't it? I think so, yes. It was a really

:51:25. > :51:30.impressive race by Flora to ride on her own and run it as a time trial.

:51:31. > :51:37.The only thing we have not seen her do is run a race. She comes off her

:51:38. > :51:42.bike, but no one has been able to get close enough to her off the bike

:51:43. > :51:49.to do that. Last time the chase group came through the transition

:51:50. > :51:56.area, they wear 1.05 behind the leading group. They are now 1.15

:51:57. > :52:03.behind but we expect those times to narrow as the city centre laps that

:52:04. > :52:08.closer. There was a near collision there as they made that right-hand

:52:09. > :52:13.turn. They've lost five or ten seconds which is a surprise.

:52:14. > :52:23.Sometimes a smaller pack works better at narrow twisty roads like

:52:24. > :52:26.these. Yes, they've also got Taylor there who was world champion last

:52:27. > :52:31.year and has has had a solid start to the season. Really impressive for

:52:32. > :52:38.her to be there. Her second World Series. They have 21.1 kilometres

:52:39. > :52:47.still to write. They climb once again towards the Millennium Square

:52:48. > :52:51.where the majority of the crowds convened to watch these races unfold

:52:52. > :52:58.this afternoon. Often the World Triathlon Series women's race is

:52:59. > :53:03.held on a but plenty of money for your buck with two races on the same

:53:04. > :53:08.day. We have heard that Gillian Sanders has pulled out. From South

:53:09. > :53:12.Africa. She's been forced to retire. We don't know why but we'll let you

:53:13. > :53:20.know as soon as we find out. The third pack coming through, led by

:53:21. > :53:28.India Lee. Trained in Basingstoke and looked after by Richard Stannard

:53:29. > :53:31.in the water. Although she's putting in a lot of work at the front of

:53:32. > :53:37.this third pack, they are two minutes and 30 seconds behind, and

:53:38. > :53:43.also that pack contains Ashleigh Gentle so the threat to Non Stanford

:53:44. > :53:53.gets less and less from the third pack. To put the task that faces

:53:54. > :53:55.Jess Learmonth and Non Stanford into context, only when Jorgensen has

:53:56. > :54:04.traded such a deficit to will travel on series race. At the moment it is

:54:05. > :54:12.and 15 seconds. Jorgensen has done it half a dozen times. It'll be very

:54:13. > :54:15.tough for Jess Learmonth and Non Stanford to replicate that. It will

:54:16. > :54:20.be tough but they have huge motivation to do it in front of

:54:21. > :54:23.their home crowd. They've got to minimise the gap as much as

:54:24. > :54:28.possible. You don't want it to get much bigger than 1.15. One of the

:54:29. > :54:34.front four has put down the hammer and this may be an effort to try and

:54:35. > :54:36.reduce that group of four down to three although nobody is a

:54:37. > :54:43.significant loss as we watch from the helicopter. They are maintaining

:54:44. > :54:49.contact and I think the group will reformat a quartet shortly. Yes,

:54:50. > :54:53.it's a little bit harder in some ways being technically strong, but

:54:54. > :55:00.with the stop start points on the course, it helps the athletes to get

:55:01. > :55:03.back on. We can see Jess Learmonth going back in the race, looking

:55:04. > :55:14.behind, waiting for her team-mate, Non Stanford. She's playing the

:55:15. > :55:16.tactical card. Brendan per cell, the performance director of British

:55:17. > :55:20.triathlon, he spoke about it yesterday, saying our main objective

:55:21. > :55:28.is to get a British triathlete on the podium. That is why Jess

:55:29. > :55:37.Learmonth has taken that course of action to wait for Non Stanford

:55:38. > :55:40.today. You can see Flora pushing it through the technical session. A

:55:41. > :55:45.smart racer. She knows where it will be to hurt the girls who are with

:55:46. > :55:48.her, so she will have analysed the course beforehand, gone through it

:55:49. > :55:52.on the recce, and will know where the best places to put down the

:55:53. > :55:56.power and put in the effort. You can't underestimate the work the

:55:57. > :56:03.athletes are doing behind her. Flora is riding very hard at it with one

:56:04. > :56:09.or two athletes, because there is 3Com they get dropped into a corner,

:56:10. > :56:13.they can go back up to Flora Duffy because she is out riding the girls

:56:14. > :56:17.but they are getting a draft a fact and managing to hang on to the wheel

:56:18. > :56:24.of the current world champion. Just to recap, it is Flora Duffy, from

:56:25. > :56:32.Bermuda, with her Fanclub in the bandstand, whether Alice Betto from

:56:33. > :56:35.Italy, Taylor Spivey from the USA, and Maya Kingma from the Netherlands

:56:36. > :56:40.for company as they complete the next lap. Five to go. Jodie Stimpson

:56:41. > :56:45.cheering them on, unable to race today. And Georgia Taylor-Brown was

:56:46. > :56:53.forced out with injury, as well, both of those reddish members forced

:56:54. > :56:57.to watch it. Everybody is here to see it -- British members. It's a

:56:58. > :57:00.tough thing to do was an athlete when you are injured. You don't want

:57:01. > :57:04.to go out and show your face. You want to stay at home and hide and

:57:05. > :57:09.almost ignore the triathlon for a bit but it's good they have come out

:57:10. > :57:15.and support. It's a real reflection of how strong you guys are that the

:57:16. > :57:19.supporter there is for each team member, the fact Jodie and Vicki are

:57:20. > :57:23.here is brilliant. It's hard sometimes to be in an event like

:57:24. > :57:29.this when you want to be racing and you can't. It's definitely one of

:57:30. > :57:34.the toughest things I've done is to watch races when I am injured. You

:57:35. > :57:37.have to put on a happy face that everything is fine, but inside you

:57:38. > :57:44.want to curl up and not talk about it. It's part of what we do is

:57:45. > :57:46.athletes. We are a professional athletes, and we have to be

:57:47. > :57:54.professional and support your team-mates. Versus the group which

:57:55. > :58:00.contains Jess Learmonth. Last time we checked, they were 1.15. That has

:58:01. > :58:08.gone way out now, closer to 1.45 by the time they stop the clock at the

:58:09. > :58:17.end of this most recent lap. 1.34. 1.35. No damage done to the Duffy

:58:18. > :58:23.group lead. I'm absolutely shocked. They have now put in Flora on her

:58:24. > :58:32.own, 30 seconds in two lapse of seven. That is pretty amazing

:58:33. > :58:35.riding. Yes, that is a big gap to bring back. There's a few runners in

:58:36. > :58:42.this group, who would probably be able to run through and rundown Maya

:58:43. > :58:47.Kingma and probably Alice Betto, but the gap is getting bigger if they

:58:48. > :58:51.want to reach Flora Duffy. The second pack appeared to be working,

:58:52. > :58:56.don't they? Yes, they are pushing it. They are showing the strength of

:58:57. > :59:02.this group who are working together, it's not Flora on her own. In the

:59:03. > :59:14.second group, it looks like it is predominantly the British girls the

:59:15. > :59:21.front. -- at the front. This is the group of India Lee, left of screen,

:59:22. > :59:28.number 21. The third of the British triathlete racing today. Her group

:59:29. > :59:33.is almost three seconds off the pace of the leading four which includes

:59:34. > :59:38.the world champion, Flora Duffy. They have lost a bit of time. I'm

:59:39. > :59:40.surprised to see that they have. They have got Ashleigh Gentle in

:59:41. > :59:45.there, renowned as one of the strongest on the circuit at the

:59:46. > :59:49.moment. It shows what this fastest swim, the hell out of transition has

:59:50. > :59:55.taken out of them. It seems like they've not be able to get their

:59:56. > :59:59.bike going. The men will be racing later. Will they have a chance to

:00:00. > :00:03.check up on this and maybe learn something from what happened in the

:00:04. > :00:07.women's race? It's interesting to raise second because the swimmer is

:00:08. > :00:12.an interesting point, which side of the pontoon went faster, and they

:00:13. > :00:15.will have been around the bike course, but you do end up watching

:00:16. > :00:16.the race before you go down and actually start yours, it's hard not

:00:17. > :00:28.to sometimes. Better to start second, in many

:00:29. > :00:33.ways? I would always rather get it over with first. But there are

:00:34. > :00:40.benefits to going second, definitely. Now they are in the city

:00:41. > :00:44.centre once again. This is the chase group which contains Juri Ide of

:00:45. > :00:49.Japan, and Melanie Santos of Portugal at the back. They are on a

:00:50. > :00:55.climb at the moment. A couple of close calls here in this group. At

:00:56. > :01:00.the front, Non Stanford and Jeff Learmonth. Learmonth is pushing the

:01:01. > :01:07.pace right now, with Stanford on her rear wheel. It can be frustrating if

:01:08. > :01:11.you are in a pack and there are people who just do not work. There

:01:12. > :01:16.are people sat at the back because... Who may not have taken

:01:17. > :01:21.their turn yet. It may be because they are unable, but I think if you

:01:22. > :01:26.are in the pack, you've got to take your turn. A lovely afternoon here

:01:27. > :01:32.in Leeds. Hope only the threat of the shower has gone. But there are

:01:33. > :01:36.some clouds. Maybe they will threaten the men's race rather than

:01:37. > :01:43.the women's. At the moment, bright sunshine. We still have these four

:01:44. > :01:47.athletes out in front. What an amazing job they are doing, because

:01:48. > :01:52.that chase pack finds themselves over one minute 30 seconds down.

:01:53. > :01:55.Flora Duffy will be getting some time references out the cause from

:01:56. > :02:03.the coaches and will know where she's at. She will know that with

:02:04. > :02:09.that one and a half minutes gap, this race is playing into her hands.

:02:10. > :02:19.Flora Duffy, an exceptional start to this season. Second

:02:20. > :02:32.leaves behind Gwen Jorgensen. -- second here in leaves behind Gwen

:02:33. > :02:36.Jorgensen. And sealing the title for 2016, as they approach the end of

:02:37. > :02:41.lap three. Flora Duffy of Bermuda who brings about the roar from the

:02:42. > :02:45.crowd, particularly from the supporters who have travelled from

:02:46. > :02:55.the island to watch a race today. She, King Ma, Eto'o and Spivey have

:02:56. > :03:01.a nap of one minute 34. It may have grown even more now. Looking back to

:03:02. > :03:08.the race of last year. Gwen Jorgensen stormed to victory, but

:03:09. > :03:17.she was behind on the bike, and rode down Flora Duffy at the end. This is

:03:18. > :03:21.not a particularly fast course. With the hill out of transition and all

:03:22. > :03:26.the corners, that stop start, it doesn't flow so it doesn't feel

:03:27. > :03:32.super fast. But they will definitely feel it in their legs when they get

:03:33. > :03:36.off the bike. They certainly will. Gwen Jorgensen is taking times out.

:03:37. > :03:48.Her baby is due in the next couple of months.

:03:49. > :03:59.Flora Duffy is working very hard to keep the pace up here in Leeds. What

:04:00. > :04:01.is interesting is that, with the British and American systems, some

:04:02. > :04:07.of the bigger countries, we have a lot of support in these races. Flora

:04:08. > :04:13.Duffy at all on her own. There is no Bermuda team. It is a very different

:04:14. > :04:18.way of racing, so it's impressive that she is able to have these

:04:19. > :04:23.results without that back-up. The gap has grown even more. It was a

:04:24. > :04:34.minute and 34 at the end of lap two. At the end of lap three, it will be

:04:35. > :04:39.pushing one minute 50. One. 48. Non Stanford's mum is there to cheer her

:04:40. > :04:45.daughter on. At the moment, Stanford is struggling to do any damage to

:04:46. > :04:49.the Duffy group's lead. One of the great things about racing in your

:04:50. > :04:55.home country is that you are able to get more friends and family up. Some

:04:56. > :04:59.of the best experiences I've had is when you finish the race and, good

:05:00. > :05:06.or bad, your friends and family are there. It really does help. Leeds

:05:07. > :05:11.hosting the third leg of the World Triathlon Series. Before that, it

:05:12. > :05:15.was set up in Hyde Park. Then they construct of the cycle superhighway

:05:16. > :05:20.through the Royal Parks, and Leeds gladly took on hosting the race.

:05:21. > :05:25.They are determined not to let it go. It is fitting it is in Leeds.

:05:26. > :05:31.Home of the Brownlee brothers, Vicky Holland training here. We've had so

:05:32. > :05:36.many Olympic medals and athletes. Non Stanford coming from this city

:05:37. > :05:41.centre. It is fitting that the race is in Leeds. And it is a great race.

:05:42. > :05:46.It has everything. It is technical, it has that brutal Hill straight out

:05:47. > :05:52.of the swim. It's a really difficult course. Some of the athletes it will

:05:53. > :05:57.really suit. This is the India Lee group coming through. Again, the

:05:58. > :06:01.crowds rising to their feet. A standing ovation for each athlete

:06:02. > :06:06.coming through. We don't see this anywhere else. They love their sport

:06:07. > :06:12.in Leeds, whether it's football, cricket, Rugby Union or Rugby

:06:13. > :06:16.League, and these days, triathlon as well, with the Brownlee brothers,

:06:17. > :06:21.doing great things for their sport. The physical education of youngsters

:06:22. > :06:25.as a whole as well. They really have become heroes of Leeds and the

:06:26. > :06:29.County of Yorkshire. The Brownlee 's deserve everything they've got out

:06:30. > :06:36.of the sport. We will see both of them race here later. It will be

:06:37. > :06:41.Alistair's first trip into Olympic distance racing this season. Johnny

:06:42. > :06:45.has been out. Alistair has been swimming and biking and running the

:06:46. > :06:49.longer distance with some success. How difficult will it be for him to

:06:50. > :06:53.make the transition back to Olympic? For some it may be difficult, but

:06:54. > :07:00.Alastair Brownlee doesn't seem to have a problem doing anything in

:07:01. > :07:05.triathlon. I imagine he will have done the same in training as before.

:07:06. > :07:09.The only thing he may have changed is spending more time on his time

:07:10. > :07:17.trial bike, maybe working more on those specifics. That I can't

:07:18. > :07:22.imagine he's changed much. Sometimes, you can cross over from

:07:23. > :07:26.Ironman to the shore to distance, but the middle distance can make

:07:27. > :07:31.your biking stronger. The difficulty can be with the swim, because at

:07:32. > :07:35.this distance, it is more dynamic and fast. He will have had a lot

:07:36. > :07:41.steadier swims and not had to push himself quite so hard in the water.

:07:42. > :07:46.But overall, you will see a pretty strong Alastair Brownlee here. And

:07:47. > :07:52.he has not written off returning for a third Olympics, or what will be a

:07:53. > :07:57.fourth Olympics, in 2020, and potentially going for his third gold

:07:58. > :08:01.medal. Now that the Olympic mixed relay has been given the green

:08:02. > :08:05.light, which happened last week, that provides further incentive for

:08:06. > :08:16.you and for the Brownlee brothers to return and have another go at an

:08:17. > :08:20.Olympic medal. Triathlon is such a good sport. I am biased, but I love

:08:21. > :08:27.the sport. We had to medals at the game. The chance that we have,

:08:28. > :08:33.another opportunity. The mixed racing is a really good format. We

:08:34. > :08:36.also have a new relay introduced to the British triathlon programme on

:08:37. > :08:42.the 2nd of September in Nottingham. It's called the British triathlon

:08:43. > :08:51.mixed relay cup. We will have live coverage across the BBC. So the

:08:52. > :08:57.leading group coming in. Alice Betto, Taylor Spivey, Maya Kingma,

:08:58. > :09:02.Flora Duffy. Listen to the roar. Amazing. I'm pleased to see these

:09:03. > :09:05.for working well together. I have to say sorry to the other girls,

:09:06. > :09:10.because I said that they were not really working. But they have really

:09:11. > :09:15.come together. I noticed a couple of moments ago they were taking on

:09:16. > :09:21.water and gels, and they are probably thinking ahead to the run.

:09:22. > :09:25.With three laps to go, just over ten kilometres, they will know they are

:09:26. > :09:31.in a good position. Duffy certainly is. What an opportunity for those

:09:32. > :09:38.three girls with her. I don't think they will have had an opportunity

:09:39. > :09:49.like that before. Spivey has probably been the closest. So far,

:09:50. > :09:55.their progress has been limited. The first three laps in the city centre

:09:56. > :10:02.have gone by. Back with the leaders now. We are used to seeing Betto at

:10:03. > :10:09.the back of the group. Today, she's been brought in to do some work. She

:10:10. > :10:14.has had a few injury problems so has definitely struggled over the last

:10:15. > :10:20.couple of years. In 2015, she had a couple of decent top five finishes

:10:21. > :10:24.on the world triathlon circuit. They have also had a new guy involved

:10:25. > :10:28.with the Italian team, which has been very positive for the Italian

:10:29. > :10:35.team. He trains a lot of the top athletes, including Mario Mola. That

:10:36. > :10:40.is rubbing off to Alice Betto. She is finding herself injury free this

:10:41. > :10:44.year, and finding some of that form she had in 2015. It's really good

:10:45. > :10:51.for Alice Betto to be up there competing. These are some athletes

:10:52. > :10:55.who are about to be lapped, so they are being told by the referees to

:10:56. > :11:01.move over and let this pack coming through now by. It is the leading

:11:02. > :11:06.pack. Unfortunately, the three athletes who are about to be lapped

:11:07. > :11:10.are going to be out of the race. It is tough when you are taken out of

:11:11. > :11:14.the race like that. You are doing your best and trying to get through

:11:15. > :11:18.it, and it is a really short lap. The opportunity to lack does come

:11:19. > :11:24.through. But it happens to the best of them. We did lapped Gwen

:11:25. > :11:29.Jorgensen once in Madrid. Being lapped does not mean you are a bad

:11:30. > :11:34.triathlete, just that you are maybe having a bad day. Alice Betto's

:11:35. > :11:40.fastest 10K time is 20 seconds quicker than Flora Duffy's. How will

:11:41. > :11:45.that play into this race? Obviously, Betto has been out. That could have

:11:46. > :11:51.been a time from five years ago, and we know Duffy is running well. But

:11:52. > :11:54.Betto may have a chance today. Realistically, Betto does not find

:11:55. > :11:58.herself in the best running form we have seen. Flora Duffy is a

:11:59. > :12:05.different athlete, and a course like this, I think she will come out on

:12:06. > :12:13.top. Taylor Spivey recently did well in Madrid, which is a really tough

:12:14. > :12:20.biking course, and she ran strongly of it. Georgia Taylor-Brown from

:12:21. > :12:25.Great Britain won that race. The lead group, with Betto out in front,

:12:26. > :12:31.on this little climb taking them back around to complete lap four of

:12:32. > :12:41.the seven that will unfold in the city centre. I think we can safely

:12:42. > :12:46.say that Leeds has thrown out a great race. A really interesting

:12:47. > :12:51.course. It's not a scenario that we had imagined this morning. Yes,

:12:52. > :12:56.Flora Duffy in the front pack, but the other athletes we have, the

:12:57. > :13:01.Dutch athlete, the American athlete and Alice Betto, we did not expect

:13:02. > :13:08.to see them away with Flora Duffy. I think that is the nature of the

:13:09. > :13:13.course. Jessica Learmonth took that swim out really fast. But thereon

:13:14. > :13:18.out, the whole pack was destroyed and broken down into little groups.

:13:19. > :13:23.The wind has got up significantly, and I think it is affecting the

:13:24. > :13:28.quality of our pictures from the motorcycle camera. That is partly to

:13:29. > :13:33.do with the breeze that is funneling around the roads of the city centre.

:13:34. > :13:38.The wind may affect them a little bit on the run. If they are in a

:13:39. > :13:45.group, it may be worth sitting in a little bit on those headwinds. It

:13:46. > :13:54.always happens in a city. You get those swirly wins. Well, Flora

:13:55. > :14:01.Duffy, what a year she has been having. She is such a complete

:14:02. > :14:07.athlete. We know she has been the champion on a course where the road

:14:08. > :14:12.bike is replaced by a mountain bike. She really is a multitalented

:14:13. > :14:17.athlete. She does do a lot of training on high mountain bike. She

:14:18. > :14:21.says she has to be a bit careful taking on anything really, really

:14:22. > :14:27.technical. Just wanting to avoid a crash at this time of year. That is

:14:28. > :14:35.one of the things that makes her stronger, especially this is an off

:14:36. > :14:43.powder. The mountain biking is a really good crossover for that.

:14:44. > :14:51.One hour, eight minutes and 44 seconds so far. Leeds Civic Hall

:14:52. > :14:57.overlooking the transition area, designed by a competition in 1926,

:14:58. > :15:05.won by Vincent Harris and the work began in 1931. King George V open

:15:06. > :15:10.the building in August 1933. Flora Duffy, she Leeds the pace. Delight

:15:11. > :15:17.from the fans and they are on their feet with generous support for the

:15:18. > :15:22.maul who've been in front since they've been at the top of the hill

:15:23. > :15:30.since leaving Roundhay Park and I have two lapse to go. With two lapse

:15:31. > :15:36.to go, it's time to start thinking a little bit about the run so only a

:15:37. > :15:40.few minutes, ten minutes or so left of racing and I think Flora Duffy

:15:41. > :15:44.will certainly be thinking ahead to the run, taking the lead now pushing

:15:45. > :15:48.up this last bit of help. Three athletes on her wheel, and will

:15:49. > :15:53.shortly get a chance to see where the second pack is but the last

:15:54. > :15:56.count was they were 1.45 seconds behind which will be difficult for

:15:57. > :16:01.Non Stanford to get onto the podium today. It will be tough and they

:16:02. > :16:05.want to keep that under two minutes if they can. Non is running well,

:16:06. > :16:09.and can definitely run down at least one of these girls but you don't

:16:10. > :16:14.want to start with over two minutes if you can avoid it. They need to

:16:15. > :16:17.push well and hopefully we'll get help from the other athletes because

:16:18. > :16:25.at the moment it looks like the British girls are working together.

:16:26. > :16:30.Maya Kingma, only in her second World Triathlon Series race, so

:16:31. > :16:34.she's doing so brilliantly for someone so it inexperienced at this

:16:35. > :16:39.level. It is the buzz being at the front, it's amazing, I had a race

:16:40. > :16:42.when I was younger, a World Cup back then, and I ended up in the front

:16:43. > :16:46.group with a lot of well-known athlete and managed to hang on in

:16:47. > :16:52.there and it was such a buzz, you want to keep staying in there and

:16:53. > :17:00.not get dropped. Made lap, the time check we got from the lead group to

:17:01. > :17:06.the Jess Learmonth group was 1.52, and now, with two lapse to go, it

:17:07. > :17:14.has stretched out, yawned two minutes, next time they cut the

:17:15. > :17:24.timing ribbon, as they cut the turn, they concede it's now a gap of 2.14.

:17:25. > :17:28.I think it's fair to say, bar mishaps on that front group, we are

:17:29. > :17:33.not likely to see a British triathlete on the podium today. I'm

:17:34. > :17:37.slightly scratching my head as to what the second pack could do

:17:38. > :17:41.because it looks like they have worked well. Jessica and Non have

:17:42. > :17:44.been pushing the pace, great riders, and on their own that they should

:17:45. > :17:51.perhaps be able to write better than they have. For Flora and the other

:17:52. > :17:55.three, to find themselves 2.15 in front, it's a huge gap. I think the

:17:56. > :18:01.front four have been working effectively together. The chasing

:18:02. > :18:08.pack have not got that group working efficiently yet, and, yeah, it's

:18:09. > :18:13.very hard. Sometimes if someone puts in a big surge, and sits in for a

:18:14. > :18:21.bit, it disrupts the rhythm whereas if you have four girls taking equal

:18:22. > :18:25.terms, it can work better. Flora Duffy, I wonder if she will make any

:18:26. > :18:29.plans to break away over the last few: it is? It's nice to be on your

:18:30. > :18:35.own going into transition, not that they have to worry about a lot of

:18:36. > :18:38.athletes behind them. After Missy 20 or 30 athletes coming into

:18:39. > :18:42.transition and a lot can go wrong but they won't have any problem in

:18:43. > :18:47.transition. I wonder if Flora fancies pushing on a little bit with

:18:48. > :18:53.just over five colleges to go? I think she will be trying to hurt the

:18:54. > :18:58.girls with her. They are taking the technical session strong every time.

:18:59. > :19:02.The other three are having to work to stay with her. It's a lot nicer

:19:03. > :19:07.to transition in a group of four than 40. Because otherwise you have

:19:08. > :19:10.to be so aware what's happening, crashes and all sorts of things can

:19:11. > :19:18.happen so it's much easier in a smaller group. Duffy comes into this

:19:19. > :19:27.lead fresh off the back of a win in Yokohama, 1.56, 18 seconds, her

:19:28. > :19:33.winning time, in the pouring rain of Japan and she is now out in front.

:19:34. > :19:37.The others have not been left. This is not a decisive break away from

:19:38. > :19:42.Flora Duffy but she has raised the pace with the last couple of laps

:19:43. > :19:46.unfolding. It's always good to see her ride, she takes corners pretty

:19:47. > :19:52.fast. She doesn't take risks as such, technically very strong, and

:19:53. > :19:55.can ride in and out of corners fast. The three athletes struggling to go

:19:56. > :20:01.with her, but when they head the straight bit of road, they are able

:20:02. > :20:05.to write back onto her wheel again. I imagine they will stay together

:20:06. > :20:09.coming into transition. What an opportunity for these three women

:20:10. > :20:14.with Flora to make a World Series podium. It's difficult to say

:20:15. > :20:21.because of course we are looking at the Dutch athlete Maya Kingma and it

:20:22. > :20:26.only her second World Triathlon Series race, so how can she perform

:20:27. > :20:30.over ten climate is? She's probably high as a kite at the moment because

:20:31. > :20:40.she can't believe she finds herself, 2.2 seconds up on the others in the

:20:41. > :20:46.sport -- 2.20. They will have tired legs. It will be tough to stay ahead

:20:47. > :20:50.of the group behind because some of these athletes don't run that fast,

:20:51. > :20:57.especially off a tough bike so you've just got to go for it. Try

:20:58. > :21:03.not to go too fast. Try and see what happens. It's an amazing opportunity

:21:04. > :21:12.and you got to go for it. I think Taylor Spivey could run the best out

:21:13. > :21:22.of these three. With Flora. In they come, one lap to go. 3.75, it is,

:21:23. > :21:29.the final loop of the city centre. Their advantage was two and a

:21:30. > :21:33.quarter minutes and I expected to grow further with Duffy having

:21:34. > :21:40.pushed the pace and raced a game on the penultimate lap and now thoughts

:21:41. > :21:43.will turn to T2, split transition, they collected their bikes in

:21:44. > :21:47.Roundhay Park and they will park bomb right in front of the Leeds

:21:48. > :21:52.Civic Hall and the packed grandstands and everybody would get

:21:53. > :22:03.the best of you of transition. What is easier, T1 or T2? Probably T2.

:22:04. > :22:10.The wet suit is always a drama. Lucan panic and it doesn't seem to

:22:11. > :22:14.go as smoothly as you planned -- you can panic. Taylor Spivey, Flora

:22:15. > :22:17.Duffy, Maya Kingma and Alice Betto tends to be faster. The noise when

:22:18. > :22:22.they come in for this transition will give them a left. There was the

:22:23. > :22:29.great crowd here, very noisy crowd. This is the Kirsten Kasper Non

:22:30. > :22:34.Stanford group who had a difficult time on the streets of Leeds this

:22:35. > :22:37.afternoon it's fair to say. It started with Non Stanford getting

:22:38. > :22:42.left behind in the water, and Jess Learmonth was first out of the water

:22:43. > :22:48.but then waited for her at the top of the climb to pick up Non Stanford

:22:49. > :22:52.and attempt to help her to climb up some places up through the race but

:22:53. > :22:59.it didn't work out as planned. Duffy forced a ridiculous pace out in

:23:00. > :23:05.front as they come passed in front of Leeds town Hall. Not to be

:23:06. > :23:13.confused with the Civic Hall. The location for the start of the Tour

:23:14. > :23:17.de France in 2014. A different type of cycling taking place this

:23:18. > :23:25.afternoon. The chase group come through to take the bal. Taylor

:23:26. > :23:28.Spivey, Flora Duffy, Maya Kingma and Alice Betto are on their way on

:23:29. > :23:33.their last lap on the streets of Leeds. They've lost a few athletes

:23:34. > :23:38.from this group, it looks like, so it'll be interesting to see what did

:23:39. > :23:43.happen, if there was a crash or incident or they couldn't handle the

:23:44. > :23:48.pace. I think they've lost one or two. On a positive note, we know Non

:23:49. > :23:54.Stanford at the second fastest run in Yokohama which took place a few

:23:55. > :24:00.weeks ago in Japan, running just over 34 minutes, a pretty decent

:24:01. > :24:04.time, only Ashleigh Gentle from Australia ran faster, and she's way

:24:05. > :24:11.back in the third pack. What do think the chances are these girls,

:24:12. > :24:15.Maya Kingma and Alice Betto and Taylor Spivey running about 36

:24:16. > :24:22.minutes, which would keep them ahead of Non Stanford? It is so hard to

:24:23. > :24:27.predict. I think Taylor Spivey has a chance. I'm not sure about the other

:24:28. > :24:32.two but it's hard to tell. We don't know as much about them. They could

:24:33. > :24:36.be coming into really good form, so it's hard, but we have got Kirsten

:24:37. > :24:39.Kasper with Non Stanford and she will have strong runners to run with

:24:40. > :24:45.and if they want to work their way back into the race, they could. That

:24:46. > :24:50.is the difference in distance. The lead group are down to their last

:24:51. > :24:55.1600 metres and the chasing group have almost double that still to

:24:56. > :25:00.ride. The yellow loop and the blue dot is the leader and the green.

:25:01. > :25:05.Still to do that out at the back at the opposite end of the track, a

:25:06. > :25:12.shorter lap to follow, four laps, 2.5 kilometres. They have a ten K

:25:13. > :25:18.run to come. It's great to see Alice Betto from Italy leading this race.

:25:19. > :25:23.Flora Duffy tucked in behind, a smart move, saving her legs just

:25:24. > :25:30.before she heads T1, parts of her trainers and takes on at ten, to

:25:31. > :25:35.run. Maya Kingma just came through. The Bell indicating one lap to go on

:25:36. > :25:40.the bike course. It can sometimes be a relief when you hear the bell. You

:25:41. > :25:47.think, thank God, one more lap to go. The run is dictated more at your

:25:48. > :25:51.pace but the bike is dictated often by others and you are just trying to

:25:52. > :25:58.hang on so it can be a relief sometimes if you're having a bad

:25:59. > :26:03.day. Flora Duffy just happy to sit in and that the other three athletes

:26:04. > :26:07.do the work and I've noticed they had taken on Walker. Flora took on a

:26:08. > :26:14.gel and have important is that just before the bike? They will end the

:26:15. > :26:17.bracing for two hours so it's important to take on some nutrition

:26:18. > :26:25.and it's been a tough day, so I would normally take one gel over an

:26:26. > :26:28.Olympic race but in a race there is tough, you could take two. It

:26:29. > :26:35.depends on everyone's nutritional plans. 2.28 the lap difference

:26:36. > :26:39.between them. Sometimes those times in the middle of the lap can be

:26:40. > :26:47.inaccurate, but we now go back to the front of this World Triathlon

:26:48. > :26:50.Series race and join Taylor Spivey, Flora Duffy, Maya Kingma and Alice

:26:51. > :26:57.Betto, who have been out in front since they reached the front of the

:26:58. > :27:02.climb, the tough climb, leaving Roundhay Park. There they have

:27:03. > :27:05.stayed and now they consider the arrival in transition. Those of you

:27:06. > :27:08.who follow triathlon regularly will be used to seeing this and those of

:27:09. > :27:15.you who don't, we'll see them reach down, remove their shoes, which

:27:16. > :27:20.remained attached to the pedals and hit the dismount liner on the blue

:27:21. > :27:26.carpet, and they have to get the dismount right. If they exceeded,

:27:27. > :27:30.there will be a penalty. That was tight for Alice Betto but the red

:27:31. > :27:37.flag stayed down. And now they make the run around the corner and into

:27:38. > :27:42.transition. The noise levels reaching a crescendo here. The four

:27:43. > :27:46.of them with a decent lead, coming in steadily to transition and they

:27:47. > :27:49.will hang up their bikes, look for their running shoes and sunglasses

:27:50. > :27:54.and make their way out of transition. Not forgetting to leave

:27:55. > :28:01.the helmet behind. The world champion Flora Duffy has nailed her

:28:02. > :28:11.transition and is first, followed by Alice Betto and Taylor Spivey and

:28:12. > :28:13.Maya Kingma the last to leave. These women will know how they are feeling

:28:14. > :28:19.within the first few calamitous of the race and you start the run and

:28:20. > :28:23.have hard legs and you will feel it in your quads or get into a rhythm

:28:24. > :28:28.and be able to push through it but you can see Flora Duffy already has

:28:29. > :28:35.taken time out of her competitors and looks to be getting into her

:28:36. > :28:39.rib. Flora missed the first two races, Abu Dhabi and the Gold Coast

:28:40. > :28:45.with injury and decided to set them out to make sure she was good for

:28:46. > :28:48.the rest of the season and then took Yokohama convincingly. When I spoke

:28:49. > :28:55.to her, she said I don't know where my form is. She has come back as

:28:56. > :29:00.strong as ever and only the second race into their 2017 season. She's

:29:01. > :29:04.come back really well from injury and I think that is one of the

:29:05. > :29:08.things, as you get an older athlete, and you put in years and years of

:29:09. > :29:12.training, having time off with injury doesn't take as much out of

:29:13. > :29:17.you as much as it would've done when you are a young athlete. Not that

:29:18. > :29:25.Flora is old, but more experienced. Yes, Flora Duffy, 30 is old, I

:29:26. > :29:33.think, this year, so she is in her prime, she had a slight

:29:34. > :29:37.disappointing course but she did not bring her race legs to the games and

:29:38. > :29:43.finished in eight place and she has got Tokyo on her mind.

:29:44. > :29:49.I would imagine that Tokyo is the aim for her, as with a lot of

:29:50. > :29:58.athletes on the course. That cycle does tend to come around quite

:29:59. > :30:09.quick. You she didn't have a great time in Rio. Flora Duffy, that is.

:30:10. > :30:19.Meanwhile, the British pair of Jeff Learmonth -- Jeff Learmonth and Non

:30:20. > :30:24.Stanford have arrived. Non Stanford will need to go to work now. She is

:30:25. > :30:27.about to move into her strongest phase of the triathlon. Let's see

:30:28. > :30:34.what damage she can do in stage three here.

:30:35. > :30:42.Kirsten Kasper from America, the athlete wearing number one today.

:30:43. > :30:49.Jeff Learmonth behind her. Non Stanford, not the fastest

:30:50. > :30:55.transition. Looked a little bit flustered from the commentary box

:30:56. > :30:59.there. I think Non will be trying to get into her running as quick as

:31:00. > :31:04.possible. There is always a lot of pressure to do that in your home

:31:05. > :31:11.race. This is a home race, so she will just want to get into it and

:31:12. > :31:17.get that best day out. Former world champion, Non Stanford, won the

:31:18. > :31:23.title in 2013. Helen Jenkins alongside me won her second. Your

:31:24. > :31:32.concern and won it twice, 14 and 15. And Flora Duffy claimed her first

:31:33. > :31:37.title in 2016. Here she is leading the Leeds World Triathlon Series

:31:38. > :31:43.race. Look at the advantage she's gained during the first half lap.

:31:44. > :31:47.What an effort from Flora Duffy. It certainly is. She's absolutely

:31:48. > :31:51.dropped the other athletes. They are miles down the road. That is good

:31:52. > :31:58.news for the British athletes behind. It just goes to show that

:31:59. > :32:04.that bike has affected the other athletes' legs. I think it will have

:32:05. > :32:09.affected their legs. They will have put everything into staying in that

:32:10. > :32:13.front pack. Flora is used to this. She's used to running on her own,

:32:14. > :32:20.setting her own pace, and pushing on. This is not unusual for her to

:32:21. > :32:25.be doing a solo time trial run. That is key. We've seen her time and time

:32:26. > :32:31.again over the last 12 months have a really tough bike and be able to

:32:32. > :32:41.run. Going back 18 months, people questioned whether Florey Duffy

:32:42. > :32:45.could run. She's improving and improving and getting stronger.

:32:46. > :32:51.Tough to beat this year. Sometimes someone comes into a sport and

:32:52. > :32:55.really changes it. Flora coming into it over the past year, putting down

:32:56. > :32:59.her mark, as made everyone else realise that we have to be good at

:33:00. > :33:05.the swim and be in the front pack, otherwise we are going to be out of

:33:06. > :33:13.this race. This is a bit further down the road, to Kearton Kasper,

:33:14. > :33:22.who was with the Non Stanford group. You can see Stanford and Learmonth

:33:23. > :33:28.just behind. Two minutes and 41 seconds behind Flora Duffy. She has

:33:29. > :33:39.Betto, Spivey and King Matt ahead of her. Kirsten Kasper there, broken

:33:40. > :33:44.away. I think sometimes you need the first 500 or 800 metres just to find

:33:45. > :33:49.your run legs. You normally know within a kilometre whether you are

:33:50. > :33:54.into the race or not. I think Non Stanford took a while to warm up.

:33:55. > :33:59.Kirsten Kasper doesn't look like the most effective runner to me, but

:34:00. > :34:07.she's dimming well. She's had some good results lately, Kirsten Kasper.

:34:08. > :34:12.She finished runner-up in Sardinia on June the 4th. Some good recent

:34:13. > :34:18.results under her belt. A really good start to the season. She may

:34:19. > :34:23.have an edge over Non Stanford due to the fact that she has been racing

:34:24. > :34:26.since Abu Dhabi in March. That is sometimes a positive. There is

:34:27. > :34:32.something to be said for running yourself fit. You can do all the

:34:33. > :34:39.training you like, but if you don't have the races, it can be tough. No

:34:40. > :34:45.matter how much training you've done over the winter, it can be a shock

:34:46. > :34:48.and take longer to come into it. Sometimes it can become really

:34:49. > :34:56.naturally. In the far right-hand side of our picture there, it looks

:34:57. > :35:01.like Jessica Learmonth with Non Stanford. This little hill is

:35:02. > :35:06.hurting their legs I think. It is a tough course. It is a break your

:35:07. > :35:10.legs bike course, because you are in and out of those corners, and it is

:35:11. > :35:16.very hard psychologically going out on the run with your legs like that.

:35:17. > :35:23.I think Kirsten Kasper stands in fifth position overall in this race.

:35:24. > :35:28.Jess Learmonth moving up into six. This is her race to lose now, the

:35:29. > :35:33.overall leader, Flora Duffy, the defending world champion. Swam well,

:35:34. > :35:42.rode beautifully and is running storm here. Expect the women's

:35:43. > :35:50.winning time to be around the two hour mark. Around 30 minutes left in

:35:51. > :35:57.this Leeds world triathlon race. Being led by Flora Duffy. Taylor

:35:58. > :36:04.Spivey holding second, but the gap is enormous. That is a large gap,

:36:05. > :36:10.that Taylor Spivey has had a great start to the season. A solid race

:36:11. > :36:19.for her, and that is really good for Alice Betto as well. Taylor Spivey,

:36:20. > :36:26.26 years of age. Runner-up in the Madrid World Cup race in the Spanish

:36:27. > :36:32.capital on May the 28th. 13th in the Gold Coast race. That was Sprint

:36:33. > :36:41.distance, at the beginning of April. Alice Betto now.

:36:42. > :36:48.Here we go. Just in front of the grandstand, we have Taylor Spivey

:36:49. > :36:53.coming through. Hopefully we will have some time checks on where she

:36:54. > :36:58.is. Alice Betto looking a little bit tired. That is Maya Kingma, the

:36:59. > :37:07.Dutch athlete. She has lost a lot of time to do Flora Duffy in this first

:37:08. > :37:11.lap. If Betto can get a place on the podium today, she will become the

:37:12. > :37:16.first Italian to stand on a World Triathlon Series podium. Plenty to

:37:17. > :37:21.win and lose for Alice Betto this afternoon. The Dutch have had some

:37:22. > :37:27.success in the past. Today, flying the flag for the Netherlands, is

:37:28. > :37:33.Maya Kingma. I think she looks like she is suffering a little bit. Three

:37:34. > :37:38.kilometres to go. She has lost a lot of time on Flora Duffy, and I think

:37:39. > :37:49.it will be a hard seven point five kilometres for Kingma.

:37:50. > :38:00.King Malcolm onto the blue carpet, a little soft underfoot. But she is

:38:01. > :38:04.clearly feeling this. It is only her second World Triathlon Series

:38:05. > :38:08.outing, holding forth position at the moment. Having come into

:38:09. > :38:15.transition level pegging with Flora Duffy, she now finds herself one

:38:16. > :38:21.minute and 34 seconds behind. Doing some maths there, with Spivey 45

:38:22. > :38:29.seconds down on Duffy, that is three minutes overall that she could lose.

:38:30. > :38:38.You would expect Non Stanford to run the same time roughly. But it is

:38:39. > :38:42.Jessica Learmonth who is ahead of Non Stanford. Non Stanford looks

:38:43. > :38:47.like she is struggling to me today. She hasn't really got into her

:38:48. > :38:55.running yet. This is great by Jess. She is looking strong and pushing

:38:56. > :39:00.on. It's not over yet for Non, but she's really got to try and find her

:39:01. > :39:05.legs and get into her rhythm. Learmonth is a local girl from

:39:06. > :39:10.nearby Tadcaster, remember. There are several hundred here from that

:39:11. > :39:15.small Yorkshire town cheering her on. Plus all of the Leeds faithful

:39:16. > :39:20.are getting behind her. Everyone is getting so much support. No

:39:21. > :39:27.allegiances, every athlete coming through is having the roof raised

:39:28. > :39:33.for them. Kirsten Kasper tries to stretch her lead over Jessica

:39:34. > :39:39.Learmonth. Learmonth is in sixth. Then a little gap to Gillian

:39:40. > :39:45.Backhouse, and on the right you can see Non Stanford alongside Natalie

:39:46. > :39:50.Van Coevorden. Juri Ide looks uncomfortable at the back of this

:39:51. > :39:57.group coming through transition. You can see what this swim and bike has

:39:58. > :40:04.done to them. Juri Ide was third before. You can see what the hills

:40:05. > :40:10.and the technical section on the bike takes out of these women.

:40:11. > :40:14.Looking at Juri Ide struggling through transition, and then looking

:40:15. > :40:20.at Flora Duffy at the front, easing her way to the top of this hill in

:40:21. > :40:27.the city of Leeds. Jess Learmonth in sixth position, currently the best

:40:28. > :40:32.of the British contingent so far. I have to say, it is difficult for

:40:33. > :40:36.Jess, because she did sit back and wait for Non. She must be

:40:37. > :40:41.questioning what would have happened if she had gone with Duffy. She

:40:42. > :40:46.waited for Non because she thought it was the right thing to do. Non is

:40:47. > :40:52.the strongest runner. But she hasn't been so well the last few months.

:40:53. > :40:58.Looking at her now, it is not the Non we know. It's not. I think Jess

:40:59. > :41:04.will be thinking that, but this was a team decision by the British

:41:05. > :41:09.women. The coaches are leading these conversations, but it's down to what

:41:10. > :41:13.they decide. It will have been a group decision to race for Non in

:41:14. > :41:19.this race, and you have to accept that. That's the thing about

:41:20. > :41:24.triathlon. No guarantees. That was Betto's bike. The front wheel just

:41:25. > :41:32.going over the line before she stepped off. Is she due a penalty? I

:41:33. > :41:36.think so. A penalty of 15 seconds. That is unfortunate because that is

:41:37. > :41:41.such an easy thing to do right. That is just a little bit of common sense

:41:42. > :41:49.when you are racing and just trying to be sensible. Now we have some

:41:50. > :41:53.shots of the brothers, Alastair Brownlee and Jonny Brownlee, the

:41:54. > :42:02.younger of the two. They have arrived at the park. Two superstars

:42:03. > :42:09.of this sport in their home city, preparing to race in the Leeds world

:42:10. > :42:15.Triathlon Series race. What a welcome they have received. Johnny

:42:16. > :42:20.can barely conceal his grin. At the start of the race in Roundhay Park.

:42:21. > :42:28.We will have full, uninterrupted coverage of the Brownlee brothers in

:42:29. > :42:35.action in Leeds later. Flora Duffy in complete control of this one now.

:42:36. > :42:42.She hasn't faltered since the moment she burst away from transition and

:42:43. > :42:45.immediately opened up a decent lead. Taylor Spivey currently holding

:42:46. > :42:53.second position. She looks reasonably comfortable. Betto

:42:54. > :42:58.bidding to become the first Italian to take a place in the world

:42:59. > :43:04.Triathlon Series podium. Taylor Spivey looks really good there. I

:43:05. > :43:09.don't think she will have expected to get on the podium. She has been

:43:10. > :43:16.close to a couple of podiums. She must be feeling amazing. She must be

:43:17. > :43:21.trying not to think about the results, just the process. She will

:43:22. > :43:28.be trying to get through this and not thinking too much about the

:43:29. > :43:33.podium. She looks so relaxed. Her running is so fantastic. The

:43:34. > :43:39.American team are so strong. In years gone by, they have had some

:43:40. > :43:45.fantastic athletes. Gwen Jorgensen as well. The team has grown in

:43:46. > :43:50.strength. We don't have Katie Zaferes here today. What is it about

:43:51. > :43:56.the Americans? They are incredibly strong. It is the strength and depth

:43:57. > :44:03.as well. It is the American women. They don't have the same strength

:44:04. > :44:08.and depth across the men. They have triathlon in the collegiate system

:44:09. > :44:12.in the US now, and that is why we are getting more and more strong

:44:13. > :44:24.athletes coming through. Flora Duffy is almost halfway through the run,

:44:25. > :44:30.five point two kilometres left. Two full laps left on the completion of

:44:31. > :44:34.this second lap. What a great position she finds herself in. She

:44:35. > :44:41.can take her foot off the gas and almost a joke. You cannot do that on

:44:42. > :44:44.the bike, but she could relax and enjoy this last five kilometres.

:44:45. > :44:52.It's not very often an athlete finds himself in that position in the

:44:53. > :44:57.World Triathlon Series. Five kilometres down. 5000 kilometres to

:44:58. > :45:03.go. The Leeds city Museum in the background. Flora Duffy has put on a

:45:04. > :45:09.real show here. Up near the leaders out of the water, and what a bike

:45:10. > :45:13.she had there. Dominating, dictating. The 40 kilometre bike was

:45:14. > :45:19.done very much on her terms. Then she left the other three behind and

:45:20. > :45:23.decided to run the first half of the ten kilometre run on her own. The

:45:24. > :45:28.next best is Taylor Spivey from the USA.

:45:29. > :45:37.She will be costing in second position. Closely followed by Alice

:45:38. > :45:40.Betto, little further down the road. And then Maya Kingma, she was in

:45:41. > :45:47.fourth position, but was weakening gradually. She did look like she was

:45:48. > :45:50.struggling on that flat coming through. She has got to hang on for

:45:51. > :45:56.as long as possible. It's a horrible feeling when you run down, but she's

:45:57. > :46:00.got to be happy with her performance. She swam really well,

:46:01. > :46:03.has ridden the race of her life, and has got to keep going and try to get

:46:04. > :46:07.the best out of this result and take a lot of confidence moving forward

:46:08. > :46:19.that she can swim and bike with the best in the world. There we have it.

:46:20. > :46:25.Taylor Spivey is one minute down. She lost 45 seconds in the first

:46:26. > :46:28.lap, just over 15 seconds. I think Alice Betto is running herself into

:46:29. > :46:33.this race because she is looking a bit more relaxed than she was after

:46:34. > :46:38.the first lap. The only thing of note, though she had to sit out a 15

:46:39. > :46:43.second penalty for going over the red line? I think she will have to

:46:44. > :46:48.take 15 seconds so it depends when she takes it. Yeah, obviously,

:46:49. > :46:52.hopefully before the end. We were focusing on the replay, focusing on

:46:53. > :46:56.her wheel going over the line, but I think another one may have come

:46:57. > :47:03.close as well. I don't think it was Duffy but I think it could have been

:47:04. > :47:06.Maya Kingma so she could be in trouble if she does have a penalty

:47:07. > :47:11.to take. She's really struggling now because she's only just turning up

:47:12. > :47:15.the long stretch before she turns onto the big part and finds herself

:47:16. > :47:20.a good few minutes down on Flora Duffy but what a race for the junior

:47:21. > :47:24.athlete from Holland. She rode and swam with a world champion and now

:47:25. > :47:28.we can see Kirsten Kasper of having the run of her life, throwing

:47:29. > :47:34.everything at it and it's just about to run herself into fourth position.

:47:35. > :47:43.It's a big year of course for Dutch triathlon because Rotterdam will be

:47:44. > :47:47.hosting the world finals. It was in Kosovo last, you will remember the

:47:48. > :47:53.Brownlee brothers. Rotterdam will host the finals between September

:47:54. > :48:04.the 14th - 17th. Live coverage, of course, across the BBC.

:48:05. > :48:13.She appears to be in trouble, Maya Kingma, and Kirsten Kasper can send

:48:14. > :48:19.that and will shortly move up into third position, surely? It's a big

:48:20. > :48:24.gap she will have to pull back but she running really strong and to get

:48:25. > :48:34.on the podium will still be a big ask, I think. She has got two laps

:48:35. > :48:38.to do it now. Jess Learmonth announced to the crowd here, local

:48:39. > :48:44.girl, they are screaming at her to try to find another gear. Gillian

:48:45. > :48:54.Backhouse in severance of the moment. Non Stanford turning onto

:48:55. > :48:58.the carpet, we were hoping for fireworks from there but so far she

:48:59. > :49:01.has not been able to produce but listen to the well, the 2013 world

:49:02. > :49:06.champion receives. CROWD CHEERS

:49:07. > :49:11.There's a view Welsh flags flying in that crowd and I'm sure friends and

:49:12. > :49:14.family will be supporting Non and she will do the best she can add

:49:15. > :49:21.their to get the highest position possible. We have Ai Uedai coming

:49:22. > :49:27.through, she's running really well. One of the most consistent

:49:28. > :49:34.triathletes on the tour. Well into her 30s now and loving the sport.

:49:35. > :49:39.She has come past her com patriot who never really settled, Juri Ide.

:49:40. > :49:43.And unmissable running style, you know it's her always. It's

:49:44. > :49:47.interesting, and it works for her because she runs very well, but no

:49:48. > :49:53.other person runs like that on the circuit. No, I have never seen

:49:54. > :49:56.anyone run like air but it seems effective and GZ World Series

:49:57. > :50:02.podiums, been too many Olympic Games, so if it works fair, that's

:50:03. > :50:06.great. Often people can be critical and say you don't look great running

:50:07. > :50:13.but as long as it is effective for you, everybody moves in different

:50:14. > :50:19.ways. Absolutely. Flora Duffy now, just over 3.5, tours until the

:50:20. > :50:23.finish line and it is perhaps fitting it won't be a British

:50:24. > :50:28.athlete but she worked so hard last year and had the two British

:50:29. > :50:32.athletes, who had instructions not to work too hard and wait for the

:50:33. > :50:37.other athletes and she found herself in a difficult spot and was run down

:50:38. > :50:47.by Gwen Jorgensen last year but that won't be the case today. She's way

:50:48. > :50:54.in front. Non Stanford is over 3.30 down and I think the closest athlete

:50:55. > :50:58.from that second pack, Kirsten Kasper, is 3.37 down. She's not only

:50:59. > :51:04.had the fastest bike and swim, she is also running the fastest as well.

:51:05. > :51:08.Poultry the fastest moving on the course is Ai Uedai but won't beat

:51:09. > :51:12.Flora Duffy now. -- probably the fastest moving. She will push to the

:51:13. > :51:19.finish line. You won't know until it's over. She can afford to keep

:51:20. > :51:21.her rib and does not have do push on too much. Just make sure she's got

:51:22. > :51:29.enough energy to get to the finish line as fast as possible. She looks

:51:30. > :51:37.very smooth. Overrunning style does not change. Other athletes, after a

:51:38. > :51:42.tough course, being affected on the run but Flora Duffy, it's all there,

:51:43. > :51:48.nothing is changed. She just looks consistently strong and, yes,

:51:49. > :51:53.comfortable. That's how you would describe her race today. Just a very

:51:54. > :52:00.well executed across all three disciplines.

:52:01. > :52:05.Taylor Spivey are still running really well. Covering the ground

:52:06. > :52:12.quickly. Holding onto second position. Our leader maintains her

:52:13. > :52:17.dominant form. Next time she crosses the line she will take the bell,

:52:18. > :52:22.signalling 2.5 kilometres, one lap to go before she will go on to win

:52:23. > :52:28.her second successive World Triathlon Series contest having

:52:29. > :52:33.triumphed in Yokohama. She attempts to win the world title for the

:52:34. > :52:41.second time. Following Leeds, the tour moves on the hamburger. Sprint

:52:42. > :52:46.races and a mixed relay in Hamburg and then Edmonton, the first two

:52:47. > :52:48.Canadian stops. After that, Montreal, Stockholm, Sweden at the

:52:49. > :52:58.end of August and then Rotterdam at the grand final in the middle of

:52:59. > :53:03.September. Kirsten Kasper could run herself into the World Series lead,

:53:04. > :53:07.and she's coming to this race ranked third overall. I'm not sure even if

:53:08. > :53:12.Flora wins, she can go above her, I'm not sure about the numbers, but

:53:13. > :53:18.that must be exciting for Kirsten Kasper. It must be lovely to be able

:53:19. > :53:22.to lead the series. We expect less than ten minutes to go from Flora

:53:23. > :53:27.Duffy, who still looks calm and composed and controlled. Has not

:53:28. > :53:33.allowed herself to be distracted by all the noise and excitement around

:53:34. > :53:36.her. The generosity of the fans, they love their sport and they know

:53:37. > :53:42.all about Flora Duffy. The reigning world champion, and a bit of light

:53:43. > :53:45.rain starting to fall which could make life interesting for the mens

:53:46. > :53:55.rea is, especially if it turns into a heavy downpour. -- the men's race.

:53:56. > :54:02.Duffy takes the Bell. I'm so excited. She has got the crowd

:54:03. > :54:05.behind her, a commanding lead. When you have got this crowd support,

:54:06. > :54:10.it's exciting for the athletes and it does not happen in every race. We

:54:11. > :54:14.are lucky to have such good crowd support in the UK. You are

:54:15. > :54:18.absolutely right. We commentate on many races around the world and

:54:19. > :54:22.there's no crowds like this, it is exceptional and wonderful. It always

:54:23. > :54:27.makes me smile, when I think about our little island stuck out in the

:54:28. > :54:32.sea with terrible weather and we produced so many fantastic athletes

:54:33. > :54:38.and races. Can we race here every week? I think a short commute to

:54:39. > :54:46.racing is always nice, nice to get into your car than get on a 24-hour

:54:47. > :54:51.flight to Australia! Second place, Taylor Spivey, USA, enjoying a good

:54:52. > :54:59.run of form. Flora Duffield ready well on her way on her final lap and

:55:00. > :55:07.Taylor Spivey makes the term. Second triathlete through, the American.

:55:08. > :55:12.1.12 off the pace. Quite a long way until we see the third, she's

:55:13. > :55:16.managed a smile as she heard her name gets announced. There is the

:55:17. > :55:22.Italian, Alice Betto. Third position right now. Taylor Spivey has run

:55:23. > :55:26.consistently. She lost a lot of time on the first lap but has since then,

:55:27. > :55:31.maintained it and it's carried her through. Alice Betto takes a

:55:32. > :55:37.penalty. We thought it was coming after her dismount line, 15 seconds,

:55:38. > :55:46.which will seem like a minute to her. They never pass quickly. Alice

:55:47. > :55:52.Betto is stopped and restarted and released back onto the course with a

:55:53. > :55:57.burst of acceleration. I have to do is say, she was very composed

:55:58. > :56:00.because you see athletes get incredibly frustrated. I won't

:56:01. > :56:05.mention any names but Alice Betto, very composed and almost gives

:56:06. > :56:09.herself a little break. She knows she's got her place. Is no one

:56:10. > :56:14.insight, and off she goes again and what a great race for the Italian

:56:15. > :56:20.because we haven't had an Italian athlete on the podium in the World

:56:21. > :56:23.Triathlon Series. She'll be a big-name overnight in Italy because

:56:24. > :56:28.triathlon has a big following over there. Of late, we haven't seen a

:56:29. > :56:35.lot of Italian athlete but over the years it's been incredibly popular

:56:36. > :56:40.in Apsley. -- Italy. To get on top of the podium, it is a big

:56:41. > :56:43.breakthrough for them. Traditionally, they've had stronger

:56:44. > :56:46.Italian men but the women are doing really well. They have a strong

:56:47. > :56:51.junior programme and the English juniors have done a lot with the

:56:52. > :57:01.Italian juniors, so it's nice there is a crossover. Still are best

:57:02. > :57:04.placed of the British triathletes, Jess Learmonth. Running with Gillian

:57:05. > :57:10.Backhouse, keeping yourself in front of the Australian. I think she's an

:57:11. > :57:14.outstanding race because she's had a little injury worry with her knee, a

:57:15. > :57:18.difficult time over the last three weeks but to come here and it looks

:57:19. > :57:24.to me like she's going to get her best place finish on a World

:57:25. > :57:28.Triathlon Series. It looks to me, she was eighth, and she has got Ai

:57:29. > :57:34.Uedai behind Herbert will make a top ten finish it today and Ai Uedai,

:57:35. > :57:38.always smiling and relaxed and the crowd love her and it was a shame

:57:39. > :57:41.she could not get her swim together. Yes, she doesn't have the best

:57:42. > :57:46.swimmer, and we saw that in Yokohama. She's had some amazing

:57:47. > :57:53.result and is always a happy person to be around and have on the circuit

:57:54. > :58:00.and I watch her do well and I love it. It looks to me like she's going

:58:01. > :58:04.to run down, flying around, smiling, very relaxed and these two athletes,

:58:05. > :58:09.in front, the look over their shoulders and they will be surprised

:58:10. > :58:15.to see Ai Uedai absolutely flying. She looked up to the big screen, saw

:58:16. > :58:20.her image and the timings below, smiled, enjoyed this, and it's a

:58:21. > :58:26.massive crowd and they don't get anything like this in Yokohama on

:58:27. > :58:28.the regular tour. We were there on the world triathlon series, and

:58:29. > :58:37.there's been a few hundred spectators there. So Duffy is well

:58:38. > :58:42.on her final lap, and it's between Duffy and Non Stanford, 4.5 minutes

:58:43. > :58:50.now. Maya Kingma has been overtaken by Natalie Van Coevorden. And

:58:51. > :58:57.running alongside is Juri Ide. She will feel at home here, from the

:58:58. > :59:04.West Coast of Scotland, Charlotte McShane, and is making a decent move

:59:05. > :59:07.through the course, up into 13th position, five-minute behind, Flora

:59:08. > :59:14.Duffy, who is well on her way to her second successive World Triathlon

:59:15. > :59:20.Series victory. These gaps are huge. You don't often see this. Massive

:59:21. > :59:24.gaps between first and tenth. We are coming up to over five minutes and

:59:25. > :59:29.normally, you can see how hard the course has been with these large

:59:30. > :59:35.gaps. Believes cause is not like any other. The swim is cold, the Hill is

:59:36. > :59:41.where it all begins, and the place where it all picks up. I think we

:59:42. > :59:45.don't see races like this. It is a smaller field but these huge gaps,

:59:46. > :59:49.you don't see it and I guess it's the nature of the course which

:59:50. > :59:54.separates the athletes? I think so, but it's great we have this variety

:59:55. > :00:01.in the series, because we don't want every race being similar, a flat

:00:02. > :00:04.bike armour we need to have variety, so it's exciting to see these kinds

:00:05. > :00:08.of athletes take on different styles of courses.

:00:09. > :00:16.Flora Duffy is demonstrating she is good on any course. We talked about

:00:17. > :00:22.her winning in Stockholm last year and Yokohama a few weeks ago, which

:00:23. > :00:28.was completely flat, and she is an all-round complete athlete now and

:00:29. > :00:31.in phenomenon form. This is a well-deserved win because everything

:00:32. > :00:32.has been executed perfectly and she couldn't ask for anything else

:00:33. > :00:47.during this race. So the last 500 metres or so for

:00:48. > :00:52.Flora Duffy, who has been the sharpest of them all here this

:00:53. > :00:56.afternoon. She has not put a foot wrong, she has dominated the

:00:57. > :01:02.storyline of this World Triathlon Series race in Leeds with a

:01:03. > :01:08.fantastic performance. The runner-up to Gwen Jorgensen a year ago will

:01:09. > :01:14.take victory, and it looks like Spivey will be on the World

:01:15. > :01:19.Triathlon Series podium for the first time to continue the American

:01:20. > :01:26.success story at this level. We can follow Duffy from the helicopter

:01:27. > :01:32.shot which will take on the last 300 metres or so, following the

:01:33. > :01:35.motorcycle towards victory in Leeds. And the sunshine has returned,

:01:36. > :01:42.fittingly, to illuminate her success. With only 300 metres to go,

:01:43. > :01:46.she can really try to soak up the crowd now. She will have time to

:01:47. > :01:53.high-5 the crowd and taking the support from the people who have

:01:54. > :01:58.travelled from Bermuda to watch her. 200 metres to go for Flora Duffy and

:01:59. > :02:03.a really worthy champion, I don't think anyone can dispute that. She

:02:04. > :02:07.has led pretty much from start to finish, she really stamped her mark

:02:08. > :02:11.on the bike course with the three other athletes there to support her

:02:12. > :02:17.but today it is all about Flora Duffy. Back-to-back wins, Yokohama

:02:18. > :02:22.she took a few weeks ago, and she's a few hundred metres away from

:02:23. > :02:26.taking her title in Leeds. She did miss the first two races of the year

:02:27. > :02:29.but she's got time to catch it up, and if she stays in this form it

:02:30. > :02:35.will be hard for anyone to challenge her.

:02:36. > :02:43.Duffy can start to enjoy it now. After all the hard work, the 1500

:02:44. > :02:52.metres swim, the 38 K bike which she dominated from start to finish, to

:02:53. > :02:58.Mac -- two extra trips to transition. What an atmosphere, a

:02:59. > :03:04.convivial enthusiastic atmosphere here in Leeds. She waves to her

:03:05. > :03:11.family, and Flora Duffy wins in Leeds and wins by some margin. A

:03:12. > :03:15.brilliant win for Duffy. Two in a row after having triumphed in

:03:16. > :03:21.Yokohama. She has now travelled to Yorkshire to take her second

:03:22. > :03:24.successive win. Her family and friends will feel now that this long

:03:25. > :03:29.journey was more than worth it. She wins in the time of one hour 57

:03:30. > :03:33.minutes and to microseconds. That is about three minutes quicker than

:03:34. > :03:39.Gwen Jorgensen's winning time, although it is a slightly different

:03:40. > :03:44.course from 12 months ago. She has time to sit and soak it up and wait

:03:45. > :03:50.for the next one, which will be delighted, I'm sure, Taylor Spivey.

:03:51. > :03:55.This is brilliant for Taylor Spivey, I don't think she imagined she would

:03:56. > :04:04.be coming second today. She swam well, she rode and she has not got

:04:05. > :04:10.too excited, just gone with it. Amazing to see another American on

:04:11. > :04:13.the podium. She certainly doesn't look out of place because she's

:04:14. > :04:20.finishing as strong pretty much as she started. For the first time ever

:04:21. > :04:26.on the World Triathlon Series she's on the podium. And this must feel

:04:27. > :04:32.fantastic, taking the congratulations from the spectators

:04:33. > :04:38.in the grandstand, and taking second place in the World Triathlon Series

:04:39. > :04:39.in Leeds. One minute 30 seconds behind Flora Duffy. Still an

:04:40. > :04:54.excellent time. I don't think she can quite believe

:04:55. > :04:59.it herself at the moment. It might take a while to sink in. And this

:05:00. > :05:04.will be a thoroughly deserved third place for Alice Betto, who has done

:05:05. > :05:07.it despite having misjudged her arrival at the dismount line at the

:05:08. > :05:13.end of the bike, she allowed her front wheel to go over, she was

:05:14. > :05:17.given a 15 second penalty which she took calmly, didn't get stressed out

:05:18. > :05:23.about it because she knew she had time in reserve. And she will cruise

:05:24. > :05:28.home for third place. The first Italian on a World Triathlon Series

:05:29. > :05:34.podium. Alice Betto will be third and she's got time to thoroughly

:05:35. > :05:38.enjoy it, and stroll home. Betto takes Bird, her first podium,

:05:39. > :05:43.brilliant performance from Alice Betto as she is going to be highly

:05:44. > :05:51.emotional after the injury problems she's hard. What a race, with the

:05:52. > :05:59.penalty as well. Two and a half minutes down. I think we can see the

:06:00. > :06:03.emotion on her face there. After a year of injury last year, not being

:06:04. > :06:09.able to go to the Olympic Games, it means so much to her. I love seeing

:06:10. > :06:13.that emotion, you know how much it means to the athletes, how much they

:06:14. > :06:19.put in and how hard this sport can be. Kirsten Kasper with some

:06:20. > :06:28.excellent results recently is going to miss the podium place, and will

:06:29. > :06:35.be the second place American. Fourth place... There are worse placed

:06:36. > :06:41.finishes but she will be pleased with the result. She didn't quite

:06:42. > :06:44.make the front pack so it was a lost opportunity but she will be happy

:06:45. > :06:50.with her consistency so far this year. She was met immediately by

:06:51. > :06:59.team-mate Taylor Spivey and now there is a race for the finish, as

:07:00. > :07:09.there is a race with an array is going on behind, as Jess attempts to

:07:10. > :07:17.overtake the Australian. The best of the British! Just ahead of Gillian

:07:18. > :07:28.Backhouse. The local girl with the brilliant finish to defeat Gillian

:07:29. > :07:36.Backhouse for six and seven. Ashleigh Gentle next home. She

:07:37. > :07:43.looking absolutely shattered. Yes, she looks like she has struggled.

:07:44. > :07:48.She had a solid run but I can't imagine her being too happy with

:07:49. > :07:49.that today. And I think it will be Charlotte MacShane next across the

:07:50. > :08:11.line, to be followed by Juri Ide and

:08:12. > :08:19.non-Stanford. Let's go down to the finish and join Ore. Obviously we

:08:20. > :08:26.are going to make sure non-Stanford is all right. We have got Taylor

:08:27. > :08:30.Spivey with us. Silver medallist, podium for the first time in a World

:08:31. > :08:36.Series race. You are smiling so broadly, what did it feel like to

:08:37. > :08:40.come over the finish line? It felt amazing, I worked really hard for

:08:41. > :08:48.that podium, especially on the bike trying to keep up with Flora. It was

:08:49. > :08:51.tough but it was worth it. I could see you having tentative high-fives,

:08:52. > :08:55.you took your time down the blue carpet and it must have been a

:08:56. > :09:00.relief to make sure your work paid off. Definitely, I have been working

:09:01. > :09:05.really hard and I'm so happy to see it come together today. What was it

:09:06. > :09:11.like in that lead group because you all worked really hard for each

:09:12. > :09:14.other. Yes, I wasn't sure I could catch the next group with the two

:09:15. > :09:19.minute gap because there are some fast runners and I'm so amazed I

:09:20. > :09:27.did. You have a moment on the podium coming up, take your time, Taylor.

:09:28. > :09:31.Congratulations, enjoy your moment up there. It's all right, you can

:09:32. > :09:38.take a walk. What about that for a result. We were watching it

:09:39. > :09:43.together, the an incredible race in the first time podium is a big deal.

:09:44. > :09:47.It's a massive deal. The thing about the athletes in the lead pack with

:09:48. > :09:52.Flora Duffy didn't expect that going out this morning, but they hung on

:09:53. > :09:59.and fair play to them as they Leave with the world champion wheel

:10:00. > :10:03.4-wheel. I love it when they put that much work in. They all

:10:04. > :10:07.contributed and worked really hard to stay in the pack and I loved to

:10:08. > :10:12.see them get the rewards for that with the podium finishes going to

:10:13. > :10:16.the three in that group. Both Taylor and Alice first time podium is. We

:10:17. > :10:21.are going to try to talk to Flora and is well to Alice Betto, who we

:10:22. > :10:26.can all see it meant so much to. We are going to talk to them before the

:10:27. > :10:32.medal presentation, but talk about Flora because it was an exemplary

:10:33. > :10:34.race. It is becoming trademark Flora, a phenomenal swimmer,

:10:35. > :10:40.incredible on the bike and now her run is the best out there as well so

:10:41. > :10:46.how do you beat someone performing that way? It is trademark now. And

:10:47. > :10:58.just the second time back this season, she's in great shape. Yes,

:10:59. > :11:03.she... Let's speak to the lady herself. The world champion is here!

:11:04. > :11:09.What was really nice, after she worked so hard, is having a lovely

:11:10. > :11:15.shower to make sure you were cooled down appropriately! Brilliant race,

:11:16. > :11:20.we were just talking about how exemplary that was. You lead the

:11:21. > :11:25.hallway on the bike. I didn't realise Jess had backed off until

:11:26. > :11:29.maybe five kilometres into the ride. I had a goal of going hard, and if

:11:30. > :11:37.there is nobody with you you will have to go for yourself. It was

:11:38. > :11:41.super hard today, the course is really tough. It was windy so I'm

:11:42. > :11:50.pretty glad I had some company on the bike to share the workload. The

:11:51. > :11:55.others were more inexperienced venue, did you feel like you had to

:11:56. > :12:00.make them work as hard as you? They seemed pretty keen to work and we

:12:01. > :12:05.worked well together. My fiance kept giving us split so I think that

:12:06. > :12:09.motivated them, each time the split would get higher and higher sale the

:12:10. > :12:15.minds they were thinking it was a podium opportunity. With that

:12:16. > :12:19.dangling in front of you it is major motivation. Back-to-back victories

:12:20. > :12:25.so where do you go from here? You want to get this feeling a number

:12:26. > :12:33.more times, I'm sure. Yes, Leeds was fantastic, I had goose bumps running

:12:34. > :12:40.down the streets. So many people saying, "Go, Flora! " now I'm going

:12:41. > :12:44.to fly to Bermuda and have a few days' relaxation and get ready for

:12:45. > :12:51.the back half of the season. We could see all of your Bermuda fans,

:12:52. > :12:56.waving over there! I think you are needed for a presentation so we will

:12:57. > :13:01.let you get off but congratulations again, well done.

:13:02. > :13:04.Off she goes, make your way through the cameras.

:13:05. > :13:09.I think you guys were saying in commentary as well, she's out on her

:13:10. > :13:13.own as far as a contingent, not like the British and American guys with

:13:14. > :13:18.the huge support teams, not least team-mates as well, she's a

:13:19. > :13:22.one-woman band and she rocked it. Yes, in some ways you need those

:13:23. > :13:26.people around you but in others it has made her stronger. She cannot

:13:27. > :13:30.look around to see who was helping her because she's on her own so she

:13:31. > :13:40.cracks on with it and she does a great job. And quicker than when

:13:41. > :13:44.Jorgensen last year. If she wants to challenge the best, she's putting

:13:45. > :13:53.down markers. Yes, Flora for the last year or so has done trademark

:13:54. > :13:56.Flora, and trademark Gwen and run through from behind but Flora is

:13:57. > :14:01.getting faster and faster on the run that makes it harder for Gwen to

:14:02. > :14:07.come back into the races. Let's discuss the British athletes because

:14:08. > :14:11.as it unfolded it was interesting because Jess coming out of the water

:14:12. > :14:18.first up, you thought perhaps she has got a chance but they had

:14:19. > :14:26.specific instructions, didn't they? Yes, looking at the race, you look

:14:27. > :14:32.at Non, you have got to support her. It was the right move, it was team

:14:33. > :14:37.tactics and they have spoken about it before. Unfortunately for Non,

:14:38. > :14:44.she wasn't feeling tiptop today. Unfortunately today it was more bust

:14:45. > :14:50.than all but the rationale behind doing it was the right thing to get

:14:51. > :14:55.a great British athletes on home territory. We can see the effort

:14:56. > :14:59.they put in, the way Non was taking her time on the finish line here. We

:15:00. > :15:07.can look at that moment that Jess had to take a minute back in the

:15:08. > :15:13.race. We won't, because we have another podium athlete in Alice

:15:14. > :15:19.Betto. Congratulations. So many people, Vicky Holland, so many other

:15:20. > :15:22.people, but to see you coming over the line you were overcome, what did

:15:23. > :15:34.it mean to you to have a podium? It is the first time on the podium

:15:35. > :15:39.for me. Last July was entered. I did the second surgery to my Achilles,

:15:40. > :15:52.and I started training, just six months ago. I do not believe this

:15:53. > :15:58.podium. -- last July I was injured. It was the perfect race. Not quite

:15:59. > :16:03.perfect because you did have a stop -- go penalty. Did you think you had

:16:04. > :16:13.in form was there some don't? I thought I had enough to do the

:16:14. > :16:19.penalty. After the third lap. I wanted to gain energy for the last

:16:20. > :16:23.lap. I was so tired. It was hard on the bike. It is nice that they could

:16:24. > :16:27.provide the rest for you. You have done everything you have needed to

:16:28. > :16:32.do. Time for you to collect your bronze medal. Thank you very much. I

:16:33. > :16:38.will Take That from you. Well done. Alice Betto is a history maker. She

:16:39. > :16:44.has taken my microphone from me. That is fine, she is a medallist.

:16:45. > :16:49.She's a history maker. Overnight she will be a big star. She has had it

:16:50. > :16:56.coming for a long time. She spoke about her Achilles and operations.

:16:57. > :17:00.She has proven what she can do. Having the bike, swim combination,

:17:01. > :17:05.that will be key to her success. I saw what she could do in Yokohama

:17:06. > :17:09.first-hand. She came out of the water close to me. She had a better

:17:10. > :17:14.swim today than she did there. She rode so hard on the first couple of

:17:15. > :17:18.laps. I said that if she was there out of the water, she could raid

:17:19. > :17:24.with Flora. She has reaped the rewards today. Six months after

:17:25. > :17:28.injury, she is back here, able to provide or deliver that kind of

:17:29. > :17:33.performance. We have a couple of British athletes standing by. We

:17:34. > :17:40.will bring them in. Coming, Jess, Non. We have another one coming in.

:17:41. > :17:46.Hold onto that. Step back so can see you. We saw you at the finish line.

:17:47. > :17:51.You are right? I am OK. Not my best time. I have had a rough few weeks

:17:52. > :17:57.since Yokohama. That was a struggle from start to finish. I gave it my

:17:58. > :18:01.all, but when I got on to the run, I had nothing left. It was a matter of

:18:02. > :18:05.getting round. The crowd got me around. I know it sounds like a

:18:06. > :18:16.cliche, but the support was fantastic. They lifted me, so thanks

:18:17. > :18:18.to everyone who supported. It's splintered in the swim. Did you feel

:18:19. > :18:21.that things got tricky at that point? Yes, I was off the bike of

:18:22. > :18:26.the front pack, going around. It pushed on and on the second lap.

:18:27. > :18:30.When I got out I was 60 seconds down. I heard the call that we had

:18:31. > :18:35.decided we were going to work as a team today and that Jess was going

:18:36. > :18:41.to wait. I did everything I could to get back to her. I tried to get us

:18:42. > :18:46.into a good position. I do not think I contributed much, unfortunately.

:18:47. > :18:52.You powered on through, you're making your way back. It was an

:18:53. > :18:57.admirable effort. Jess, let's come to you. Sixth place in our World

:18:58. > :19:02.Triathlon Series race. Is that a personal best? It is.

:19:03. > :19:06.Congratulations. At one point in the race, you were potentially the Queen

:19:07. > :19:11.maker. You had the power in your hands. Purpose through that moment,

:19:12. > :19:15.you will run the bike, you had the lead. You made the call to drop back

:19:16. > :19:20.and try and help your team-mates. Definitely. We had already spoken

:19:21. > :19:24.before we started. That was the tactics. I knew full well that is

:19:25. > :19:29.what we were going to do and that is what I wanted to do. I was more than

:19:30. > :19:35.happy to drop back and push on and help Non. It is something we need to

:19:36. > :19:39.practice. It is a great place to practice. We have all had problems,

:19:40. > :19:44.little illnesses before the race. We never knew how it was going to pan

:19:45. > :19:51.out and with triathlon, you never do. It was good. After the first lap

:19:52. > :19:54.on the bike, you were only one minute behind. Did you feel like

:19:55. > :19:58.there was a chance that you could deliver a podium, or did you feel

:19:59. > :20:03.quickly that the gap was getting bigger? To be honest, the gap was

:20:04. > :20:09.going out every lap. It was so windy. I find it very hard, to be

:20:10. > :20:12.honest. I do not think many were contributing to our group. There

:20:13. > :20:22.were a few of us on the front. I did not know how well the front group

:20:23. > :20:25.were working. Obviously they were doing well, because each lap, we

:20:26. > :20:28.were like, oh, it is going out. We were trying to get around the ten

:20:29. > :20:32.key M on the windy scores ever. You had the wind and rain and everything

:20:33. > :20:36.else and an incredible crowd. No one was going to take sixth place away

:20:37. > :20:44.from you. I know, I cannot believe it. I have been practising my

:20:45. > :20:48.sprint. Apologies. Yes, the crowd, I wonder if they would mind coming to

:20:49. > :20:54.every triathlon. It would get me round the ten k every time. It was

:20:55. > :21:01.amazing. Some of the guys have been talking about your development. You

:21:02. > :21:05.thought this race might have been your last. To make the leaps and

:21:06. > :21:09.bounds you have in the last 12 months, you must be personally

:21:10. > :21:16.please? Yes, I am delighted. I am old compared to some of the younger

:21:17. > :21:21.athletes. Apart from Non. She is quite old. I know I have the

:21:22. > :21:27.development, I have the fitness, that it is putting into practice and

:21:28. > :21:34.getting the run sorted. Why have you gone so far away from me. Come in.

:21:35. > :21:38.We are all family. You were impressed with how both of them did,

:21:39. > :21:43.but Jess in particular? Yes, these guys are my team-mates and friends.

:21:44. > :21:47.I know when they have had troubles and setbacks. I do not think there

:21:48. > :21:53.is a single person in the team who has had a smooth running. We have

:21:54. > :21:56.had last-minute dropouts and injuries. These two give it

:21:57. > :22:00.everything. There is no doubt what they put into the race. Jess, to

:22:01. > :22:05.lead out the swim, casually look around and see a little gap. You did

:22:06. > :22:10.a great job. I know you went back for Non and you put in what you

:22:11. > :22:15.could. The front group were working well. Flora motivated them and they

:22:16. > :22:21.were seeing the gap glide. It continued to go. They were motivated

:22:22. > :22:27.to chase the podium. Do you have any thoughts to offer. Jess and Non are

:22:28. > :22:31.recovering. It is so difficult. It is a tough course. It is tough and

:22:32. > :22:38.it worked well with that small, effective group. It was windy. Non

:22:39. > :22:42.has had a tough time. It is not easy to miss training. These guys are

:22:43. > :22:48.performing at their best. It is difficult to compete if you cannot

:22:49. > :22:52.bring your a game. Two top ten finishes, you cannot ask for more

:22:53. > :22:57.when you're not feeling great. Tell us about how things started. There

:22:58. > :23:00.was a moment, and it may have been inconspicuous, you were making your

:23:01. > :23:07.way down the pontoon. You were side-by-side? What happened? She

:23:08. > :23:13.wanted to go left and I wanted to go right. She thought she would not be

:23:14. > :23:21.able to get away from the other girls on the right-hand turn on the

:23:22. > :23:29.pontoon. We went with her. She went with me. Let's talk about the swim a

:23:30. > :23:32.little. Just like you did in 2016, like you have done so many times in

:23:33. > :23:38.the World Triathlon Series, leading the way. While you were on the swim,

:23:39. > :23:46.are you aware that you're pulling things away? It is such an important

:23:47. > :23:51.part of your race? I look back at each marker. I see if I can see. It

:23:52. > :23:56.is difficult to know if you have a gap, or when the gap happens. It is

:23:57. > :24:01.difficult but I have a sneaky look. Well done. From both of you,

:24:02. > :24:06.congratulations. Thank you for talking to us. We appreciated. Let's

:24:07. > :24:11.go to the medal presentation. Matt Jordan can talk this through podium

:24:12. > :24:18.athletes. Yes, and just the final step to be

:24:19. > :24:23.occupied by Flora Duffy. What a noise from the Bermudan contingent.

:24:24. > :24:27.Two in a row for the world champion. Ahead of Taylor Spivey, her first

:24:28. > :24:34.podium, and Alice Bechtel making Italian history. Kirsten Kasper

:24:35. > :24:40.finishing fourth today. She has moved to the top of the World

:24:41. > :24:47.Triathlon Series standings. But it is Duffy is all smiles, today's race

:24:48. > :25:00.winner. There will be a familiar and some for Flora Duffy.

:25:01. > :25:36.CHEERING The British crowd did not get to see

:25:37. > :25:47.a British victory, but they still heard the familiar national anthem.

:25:48. > :25:52.God Save The Queen for Bermuda. The gold medal goes to Flora Duffy from

:25:53. > :25:53.Bermuda. The silver medal to Taylor Spivey, the bronze medal to Alice

:25:54. > :26:27.Bechtel. -- Betto. So much to look forward to an Leeds

:26:28. > :26:32.this afternoon, not least until we build up to Brownlee against

:26:33. > :26:36.Brownlee. The two of them, Olympic gold and silver medallist back in

:26:37. > :26:40.Rio de Janeiro. This will be the first time we have seen them back in

:26:41. > :26:45.action since the World Triathlon Series final last year. Those images

:26:46. > :26:48.beamed around the world, the moment the Jonny Brownlee, looking to win

:26:49. > :26:55.the race in Mexico, it would have taken him to another world title,

:26:56. > :26:58.the dehydration, the heat stroke to Kim and he needed his brother,

:26:59. > :27:04.Alistair Brownlee, to give him the helping hand over the line. It was

:27:05. > :27:11.Henri Schoeman who took the victory. This was the defining image of 2016.

:27:12. > :27:15.The Brownlees, others in arms, making their way over the finish

:27:16. > :27:20.line, a perfect example of brotherly love. They will be hoping for a

:27:21. > :27:27.different result today. We have heard that the boys are making their

:27:28. > :27:30.way down to the start line in Leeds. Louise has been soaking up the calm

:27:31. > :27:34.before the storm. This is very much they can before

:27:35. > :27:39.the storm. We are in registration. This is Tom Bishop's bag. How will

:27:40. > :27:47.they be feeling, what do they have to do? -- bike. They are all pretty

:27:48. > :27:50.nervous. Even on the morning of the race, you start getting nervous.

:27:51. > :27:54.They go through the bike checks, they check their kick, they make

:27:55. > :27:57.sure everything is up the specifications. They make sure

:27:58. > :28:01.everything is safe. They get a detailed check. We are looking at

:28:02. > :28:05.the bikes, they are measuring everything? Yes, they make sure it

:28:06. > :28:09.is compliant with the rules. Everybody has to have the same

:28:10. > :28:25.specification bike. When you're waiting in this queue you can see a

:28:26. > :28:28.difference in the kind of athletes, how people are dealing with the

:28:29. > :28:30.nerves. Some people are chatty? There are different characters and

:28:31. > :28:32.different characters deal with stress in different ways. Some

:28:33. > :28:34.people like company. Others like to be left alone. As a coach, what

:28:35. > :28:37.recommendation would you say to people, that they do what they need

:28:38. > :28:40.to do? Exactly, be yourself. Nerves can add to your race. Go with them.

:28:41. > :28:44.Some of them are going to do the hill as well. Is that something you

:28:45. > :28:49.would be looking at? That is very smart. You want to know what will

:28:50. > :28:59.come. You want to check your dealing. In the girls' race, some of

:29:00. > :29:01.them were in the wrong yet -- in the wrong year, they could hardly pedal.

:29:02. > :29:05.Talking about the swim, some of the female athletes, we saw them getting

:29:06. > :29:10.in quite a time before the race. Would you recommend that? I would

:29:11. > :29:14.not. The swim is quake cold and some of these athletes are from hot

:29:15. > :29:19.environments. They are getting in 16 degrees water 40 minutes before the

:29:20. > :29:26.start. I cannot see how that will be a positive. But it is for each

:29:27. > :29:29.person to decide. If it works for you, thanks. We have 15 minutes

:29:30. > :29:35.before the men take to the water. We are beginning the countdown. We have

:29:36. > :29:42.a Commonwealth medallist alongside us alongside Vicky Holland. Jodie,

:29:43. > :29:46.what are your thoughts on that race. Flora Duffy was in brilliant form?

:29:47. > :29:52.She was amazing today. She shows why she is the current world champion. I

:29:53. > :29:55.think past the swim, dominating the bike. It was great to see her run

:29:56. > :30:03.your potential. non-Stanford there could have been

:30:04. > :30:08.up to nine British girls of online today. The likes of you, Helen

:30:09. > :30:13.Jenkins, Taylor-Brown was injured just before the race. The strength

:30:14. > :30:16.and breadth is incredible, seven guys in the British team taking to

:30:17. > :30:23.the line for the men's race coming up. It is phenomenal. We do have

:30:24. > :30:27.good strength and breadth in British triathlon, which sets us apart. We

:30:28. > :30:34.have it in both the male and female sites. It is fantastic for us,

:30:35. > :30:38.especially with the announcement the relay is going into the Olympics.

:30:39. > :30:43.What about that announcement because you may or may not have heard on

:30:44. > :30:48.Friday in the triathlon world the shocks were felt around the globe,

:30:49. > :30:56.that the IOC have decided there will be a mixed triathlon relay at

:30:57. > :31:02.Tokyo's 2020 games. It was huge news, wasn't it? Yes, going into the

:31:03. > :31:06.Commonwealth Games in Glasgow I definitely think I was more nervous

:31:07. > :31:12.for the relay, mainly because we were in the team with Alistair and

:31:13. > :31:18.Jonny, but it is such an exciting race. The smallest mistake makes a

:31:19. > :31:23.huge difference. It's great to go triathlon in this way and it's

:31:24. > :31:26.exciting to get triathlon into the Olympics twice. It's another medal

:31:27. > :31:30.opportunity for Great Britain as well because not only is it a good

:31:31. > :31:40.thing for the spectators, but also for Great Britain Commonwealth

:31:41. > :31:47.champions, and so much of the talent in there. Yes, it's fantastic that

:31:48. > :31:52.it's into the Olympics. As you said, a ridiculously good spectator event,

:31:53. > :31:55.the best one I think there is in triathlon, but on top of that we

:31:56. > :32:00.have a really good shot with the relay. We will be fighting for our

:32:01. > :32:05.places in the team. And a great way to showcase that would be in

:32:06. > :32:17.Nottingham in a couple of months, in September we will see that, both

:32:18. > :32:21.hoping to be there? Yes, no injuries, we will be there.

:32:22. > :32:27.Currently training in Loughborough, it is so close to Nottingham, it

:32:28. > :32:30.will be fantastic for Great Britain to get so many people there and

:32:31. > :32:36.hosting such a big event in Nottingham. It is fantastic. We have

:32:37. > :32:41.Leeds, what a great event this was, and Nottingham to have another one.

:32:42. > :32:45.And with that news from the IOC, we would expect more international

:32:46. > :32:50.teams to come through, we expect the USA to be there. Yes, last year

:32:51. > :32:54.because of the build-up to the Olympic Games we didn't have a

:32:55. > :32:59.strong team as we would often have because none of the Olympic athletes

:33:00. > :33:04.went to Hamburg. We will forgive the Americans for winning last year but

:33:05. > :33:09.weak won the year before that! We are hoping to give them a run for

:33:10. > :33:14.their money and we have such strong male and female teams I think we can

:33:15. > :33:17.do the business in Tokyo. We have a hamburger triathlon still to come in

:33:18. > :33:22.a month and the mixed triathlon cuts in Nottingham. So much to look

:33:23. > :33:27.forward to. Let's talk about what we saw yesterday because it has been a

:33:28. > :33:33.festival of triathlon weekend. Paratriathlon made its Olympic debut

:33:34. > :33:41.in Rio last year, and Annie has been finding out if we could see the next

:33:42. > :33:48.generation of Paralympic medallists. I am Claire Cashmore, and I made the

:33:49. > :33:54.switch after Rio into paratriathlon. I try to make it look like I know

:33:55. > :33:58.what I'm doing! Triathlon is a sport I always wanted to try, so what

:33:59. > :34:04.better way, my second race and I'm slightly nervous but it should be

:34:05. > :34:10.fine. How do you manage transitions? At the moment it is come in, through

:34:11. > :34:15.everything on and go. I am Sophie and I've been doing triathlon for

:34:16. > :34:20.about a year. My sister used to raise triathlon as well and she was

:34:21. > :34:28.the motivation I needed. Once I did it, I never looked back. It's my

:34:29. > :34:33.dad's job to take off my wet suit, get me onto the bike, get me into my

:34:34. > :34:38.chair. Because he's my dad he can throw me bit and it doesn't matter

:34:39. > :34:40.if we kick each other, although I am small so not too heavy to throw

:34:41. > :34:55.around! So they are off on the swim, it is

:34:56. > :34:58.400 metres, the water is a bit chilly at 16.5 degrees but hopefully

:34:59. > :35:14.they will have a chance to warm up before they get out on the bikes.

:35:15. > :35:23.Claire has had a really great bike, she's just got 2.2 kilometres on the

:35:24. > :35:40.run. Very shortly we will be seeing Sophie coming down the hill and

:35:41. > :35:45.entering T2. Go on, Sophie! Did you enjoy it, Sophie? Yes, I did, it was

:35:46. > :35:49.starting to hurt on the push coming to the finish but other than that I

:35:50. > :35:54.love being out racing, I love seeing what I can do. It was a good day, I

:35:55. > :35:59.enjoyed it. Claire, you were so speedy we missed you on the finish.

:36:00. > :36:06.We have seen you at full Paralympics as a slimmer, will we see you in

:36:07. > :36:10.Tokyo as a triathlete? Right now I am very much in the learning stages,

:36:11. > :36:18.but we will see what happens. Good luck, I've got a feeling you will

:36:19. > :36:21.enjoy it. Thank you. And so many people enjoying the sport of

:36:22. > :36:26.triathlon over the weekend. Early this morning hundreds took to the

:36:27. > :36:30.streets on this course, making their way up the blue carpet. You don't

:36:31. > :36:34.have to be a Brownlee to enjoy the feeling of going over the finish

:36:35. > :36:38.line. Louise has been catching up with some of those runners. It

:36:39. > :36:43.really is like a triathlon Festival. We have just seen the Brownlee

:36:44. > :36:54.Brothers, I saw Jonathan anyway having a quick swim. Who have you

:36:55. > :36:57.come to see? The Brownlees. So many people taking part of different age

:36:58. > :37:03.groups and triathlon is a growing sport. I love this sport, let's

:37:04. > :37:09.speak to some other people involved. Jane, Peter and Carolyn, you did

:37:10. > :37:13.your first triathlon yesterday, how do you feel? Massive sense of

:37:14. > :37:19.achievement, I loved it. You were nervous about the water, how was it?

:37:20. > :37:25.It was scary, I was terrified of everything you can think of but the

:37:26. > :37:30.support staff were fantastic and they got me around, shouting

:37:31. > :37:37.encouragement. Peter, you did it on your 60... 65th birthday so I was a

:37:38. > :37:42.pensioner. I have been meaning to do it a long time and I finally got

:37:43. > :37:47.round. I was a bit frightened about the swim. I was last out of the lake

:37:48. > :37:51.but I completed the circuit and I've not done any competitive cycling

:37:52. > :37:58.since I was delivering newspapers probably! But I was OK on the bike

:37:59. > :38:01.and knew I would be OK on the road. I can see how it is one of Britain's

:38:02. > :38:08.fastest-growing sports. Are you going to it again? Yes, quite

:38:09. > :38:15.addictive. I will definitely do it again, yes. Age is a good thing in

:38:16. > :38:23.triathlon, isn't it? You took up the sport just a few years ago. When I

:38:24. > :38:27.was 59. The Brownlees did a triathlon at Fountains Abbey and I

:38:28. > :38:32.thought I would have a go. I really liked it so I joined British

:38:33. > :38:37.triathlon, got involved, joined Harrogate triathlon club who taught

:38:38. > :38:42.me how to swim, badly, and it's been fantastic so I do quite a bit now

:38:43. > :38:56.really. You are really underselling yourself here. Fellow age-group, you

:38:57. > :39:01.are in Team GB. I am, yes. I do duathlon as well, which doesn't

:39:02. > :39:10.involve the swimming. I'm going in Canada in August to do that. You won

:39:11. > :39:15.the race today in your age-group? I won my age-group, yes. This is what

:39:16. > :39:23.I love about triathletes, so modest! We are looking forward to the race,

:39:24. > :39:27.and sweet? Yes, we are. The rallying cry! So many people

:39:28. > :39:31.have told me I have to get involved in the sport. I have been covering

:39:32. > :39:36.it for a couple of years, and to see the enjoyment on people's faces...

:39:37. > :39:41.It is between triathlon and dams and at the moment I am split. If you

:39:42. > :39:48.want to get involved, you can go the BBC website. Give it a go. From the

:39:49. > :39:51.grass roots of the best in the business, and as we continue the

:39:52. > :39:55.build-up to the men's race so many people will be looking forward to

:39:56. > :39:59.seeing the Brownlee brothers in action. They really are the poster

:40:00. > :40:05.boys of the sport, but someone we don't know so much about is the

:40:06. > :40:09.long-term coach Malcolm Brown. The man behind them is due to retire at

:40:10. > :40:12.the end of this year, and when he does it will be a really sad day

:40:13. > :40:21.because between the three of them they have so much history.

:40:22. > :40:23.# We have come a long, long way together

:40:24. > :40:26.# Through the hard times and the good

:40:27. > :40:36.# I have to celebrate... You need that wise owl on your

:40:37. > :40:40.shoulder. There will be times I would turn up and it would be cold

:40:41. > :40:45.and wet and Leeds United would be playing on the Tuesday night and I

:40:46. > :40:52.would much rather be there. Sometimes was a devout holding them

:40:53. > :40:58.back as much as pushing them? -- it about holding them back? It was very

:40:59. > :41:06.much about that. They are used to challenging themselves in training.

:41:07. > :41:12.On a weekly basis. First of the collapses! I remember feeling really

:41:13. > :41:17.rough the whole race, then everything went blank. Jonny, this

:41:18. > :41:22.is a big day for you, then Alistair Nix all the attention! I crossed the

:41:23. > :41:27.finishing line and I was happiest I have been in my career so far but no

:41:28. > :41:30.one really cared, it was all about how is Alistair. It's interesting,

:41:31. > :41:38.he didn't try to carry you across the line! Yes, I have pointed this

:41:39. > :41:42.out on numerous occasions! He comes out with varying excuses. It makes

:41:43. > :41:46.me feel like the better human being really. Jonny was in that position

:41:47. > :41:55.and he didn't take that action, and I did! By the time I arrived, I was

:41:56. > :41:59.in the best possible shape I could be in. I could stand on that start

:42:00. > :42:03.line and go, someone is going to have to do something a lot better

:42:04. > :42:10.than they've ever done before to beat me. In the race, Gomez probably

:42:11. > :42:15.have the best race of his career as well. Alistair Brownlee is the

:42:16. > :42:21.Olympic triathlon champion. When I crossed the line, I knew I was

:42:22. > :42:29.third. That's the most honest time, when you cross the finish line, and

:42:30. > :42:36.I'm happy. Did you watch it? No, I didn't, Jonny spoil that! Jonny

:42:37. > :42:40.heads for the penalty box... I had to go into the bowels of the stadium

:42:41. > :42:45.and asked the technical guides to see a replay of Jonny's alleged foul

:42:46. > :42:50.and I spent the rest of the race underneath the stand watching on a

:42:51. > :42:55.monitor that was this big! But my main feeling was these guys have

:42:56. > :42:59.done everything possible they deserved on the day to get what they

:43:00. > :43:06.got, and if they did that, they would get medals and that's exactly

:43:07. > :43:11.what happened. About halfway through the bike, I was thinking this is

:43:12. > :43:17.going absolutely perfect for us, then I made a big mistake and said

:43:18. > :43:26.to Alistair, just relax. He decided to drop me, I forgot how ruthless he

:43:27. > :43:30.can be. Sometimes people compete and don't get what they deserve for some

:43:31. > :43:38.reason, these guys got what they deserve on the day and I'm just

:43:39. > :43:47.happy for them. We have got to talk about this, sorry Jonny!

:43:48. > :43:54.COMMENTATOR: This is a horrible sight, and Alistair will carry Jonny

:43:55. > :43:57.home. I watched it live, turned my television and phone on. I didn't

:43:58. > :44:06.realise this was going to be a massive incident in not only

:44:07. > :44:10.triathlon but in sport. For all this stuff about Alistair looking after

:44:11. > :44:18.you, when he gets you to the line he doesn't lay you over it, he shoves

:44:19. > :44:22.you over it! He had done his bit, I think it was annoyed with me really!

:44:23. > :44:28.At the same time I was upset because it's not the way you want to finish

:44:29. > :44:39.the season or the race. Brownlee centre. It's definitely one of the

:44:40. > :44:45.major legacies. At some point when the racing is done, I will sit down

:44:46. > :44:49.and think about this thing and think that is incredible. Malcolm, how

:44:50. > :44:54.much will you miss these two? It's been a privilege to be part of team

:44:55. > :44:59.Brownlee and hopefully they have learned some things from me as well.

:45:00. > :45:06.If it were anywhere else apart from Yorkshire, I would expect you to be

:45:07. > :45:11.hugging... We will go for fish and chips!

:45:12. > :45:18.There will not be a dry eye in the house when those three break-up.

:45:19. > :45:21.Let's go to transition on and the start. Louise is with the guys as

:45:22. > :45:26.they get ready. We are in transition. This is Tom

:45:27. > :45:32.Bishop's bike. The Brownlees would normally be up here, but they are

:45:33. > :45:35.not today. They are used to being on an two. We're leaving it behind. How

:45:36. > :45:38.will it affect them? They're going to be in the middle of transition.

:45:39. > :45:52.They will grab their bikes and run out when there is a flaw of bikes

:45:53. > :45:56.coming towards them. They will not be used to that. We have made it.

:45:57. > :45:59.Hi, Jonny, how are you doing? I am nervous but looking forward to it. I

:46:00. > :46:01.saw you practising the hill. What do you think? It went well in practice,

:46:02. > :46:06.but in the race, the adrenaline is going. Hopefully it will go well. It

:46:07. > :46:10.could be useful to you two? Hopefully. What are you doing? And

:46:11. > :46:15.making sure the elastic bands on my shoes. You jump on and they should

:46:16. > :46:20.stay flat. You make sure the helmet is here, you come out of the swim

:46:21. > :46:25.and put it on straightaway. Are you doing, Alistair? I do not want to

:46:26. > :46:32.disturb you too much. I am OK. I am nervous about getting my bike

:46:33. > :46:36.cleanly. Are you going to practice? No. I love the confidence. What is

:46:37. > :46:41.it like, racing in your hometown? It is always brilliant race in Leeds.

:46:42. > :46:46.It was fantastic last year. I am looking forward to seeing the people

:46:47. > :46:49.on the side of the course. You will not be waving? I will be

:46:50. > :46:54.concentrating and focused. You have so many fans. I know they can do

:46:55. > :46:56.something special for you. What will it be like on the streets of Leeds,

:46:57. > :47:00.everybody? CHEERING

:47:01. > :47:05.Have a great race. Thank you. I do not know crowds, but

:47:06. > :47:09.I think that sounds like they are looking forward to it. We have the

:47:10. > :47:13.performance director of British triathlon with us, and a two-time

:47:14. > :47:16.world champion as well. Before we talk about the Brownlee Brothers,

:47:17. > :47:19.how much we're looking forward to this and what they did last year,

:47:20. > :47:24.let's talk about the influence of Malcolm Brown. He has been the

:47:25. > :47:28.driving force for those two from such a young age. It is hard to

:47:29. > :47:33.quantify how much of a driving force. He has been there the whole

:47:34. > :47:37.journey. It is immense. He has been on the journey and we are much

:47:38. > :47:42.better for having him with us. You do not want to take all the credit,

:47:43. > :47:46.but you convinced him to come full-time to British triathlon. When

:47:47. > :47:51.I started in 2013, he was part-time with us, coaching with the boys and

:47:52. > :47:55.doing some facilitation. I thought we needed him full-time. His

:47:56. > :48:02.knowledge, his experience and wisdom in endurance sport. It is second to

:48:03. > :48:06.none. I wanted more of that. We can see the influence. The World

:48:07. > :48:11.Championships, the Olympic titles, they are all part of the

:48:12. > :48:15.achievements. Looking at the guys and their legacy, the triathlon

:48:16. > :48:21.centre, the ?5 million centre, that is part of his legacy as well?

:48:22. > :48:27.Something he will relish when he does hang up his boots and see the

:48:28. > :48:31.young, new Brownlees coming in. Yes, one of the things I want to do in

:48:32. > :48:34.the performance programme is keep that knowledge alive. We would not

:48:35. > :48:40.be where we are without the influence of Malcolm. From the

:48:41. > :48:45.top-down, Malcolm has an influence. Not just for the boys, but British

:48:46. > :48:49.triathlon as well. He has been around for years. It is lovely to

:48:50. > :48:55.have him there. He is a mentor to many of the athletes and Leeds. I am

:48:56. > :48:59.not based on Leeds but he has attained word for everyone, and I

:49:00. > :49:04.know could go to him with a problem. He would help. He will be a loss to

:49:05. > :49:08.British triathlon. He is not really going to go, is the? He has the

:49:09. > :49:13.running track in his bedroom. That is where he lives and breathes. I

:49:14. > :49:18.will want to come here and have my copy with him. I always learn

:49:19. > :49:21.something, I am challenged to do it better. He gives me advice. He

:49:22. > :49:28.always has knowledge somewhere up his sleeve. Let's talk about the

:49:29. > :49:34.Brownlee brothers. It is the first time and the only time for Alistair

:49:35. > :49:39.in our World Series triathlon race. He has been concentrating on the

:49:40. > :49:43.middle distance? It is his first Olympic distance race in the Olympic

:49:44. > :49:47.Games last year. He is enjoying a different race format. But he loves

:49:48. > :49:52.the head-to-head. He's looking forward that. What about Jonny? He

:49:53. > :49:57.has not beaten his brother too many times but he has experience of a

:49:58. > :50:01.race in the series already. Yokohama did not go as he would have liked a

:50:02. > :50:06.couple of weeks ago. With this atmosphere, against his brother, the

:50:07. > :50:11.rivalry is setup? It is setup and Jonny will have fire after the crash

:50:12. > :50:15.in Yokohama. I'm sure that beating Alistair would be a good point to

:50:16. > :50:21.prove. They are making their way down to the water. Let's look at the

:50:22. > :50:27.standings. Some of the top men are not here. Two Spaniards. Fernando

:50:28. > :50:31.Alarza has a chance to take over the title in this series rankings. He

:50:32. > :50:35.has had a fourth, third and second place. Could it be first day? The

:50:36. > :50:40.Brownlee brothers will have something to say about that. Tom

:50:41. > :50:48.Bishop is the only British competitor with a podium, he got

:50:49. > :50:54.that in Abu Dhabi. Lots of talent on the start line. Magilton will talk

:50:55. > :51:00.us through this one. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome

:51:01. > :51:08.back to Roundhay Park. The Waterloo Lake is kalamansi reign as the final

:51:09. > :51:16.countdown gets under way. -- calm and serene. 47 of the world's top

:51:17. > :51:21.triathletes lined up and diving into the water in Roundhay Park. 37

:51:22. > :51:27.acres, one of the largest city parks in Europe. We had a smaller field

:51:28. > :51:31.for the women. A much larger group of triathletes taking part. It will

:51:32. > :51:36.be key for the British triathletes, who all want to do well, not just

:51:37. > :51:45.the Brownlee brothers. Tom Bishop, Grant Sheldon, they all want to

:51:46. > :51:53.perform well. They will all be jostling for position. Gordon

:51:54. > :51:58.Benson. Watching this race are the gold and silver medallists, the

:51:59. > :52:03.medallist from the Olympic competition in Rio de Janeiro, it is

:52:04. > :52:06.time to say hello to Vicky Holland. Good afternoon. It is nice to be

:52:07. > :52:12.here and be my favourite hobby, talking about triathlon. Good to

:52:13. > :52:17.have you here. Annie Emmerson is back as well. We have a couple of

:52:18. > :52:24.distinct groups forming. It is going to be a strong swim. We have got a

:52:25. > :52:29.very interesting field. Not massive, but in terms of great swimmers in

:52:30. > :52:32.the sport, we have the likes of the Brownlee brothers, Henri Schoeman

:52:33. > :52:37.from South Africa and the French are back in force. We have not seen them

:52:38. > :52:42.racing so far this season in any of the three World Series races that

:52:43. > :52:49.have taken place. Aurelien Raphael is back. He had a fantastic race

:52:50. > :52:54.last year when he took off with the Brownlee brothers. And we have Royle

:52:55. > :52:58.from Australia. And we have Richard Varga. In the past, the Brownlee

:52:59. > :53:04.brothers have trained with Varga. He used to train in Leeds. I expect to

:53:05. > :53:08.see a breakaway something like that happening. I cannot believe we will

:53:09. > :53:15.not seeking tactics. Although richer does not leave -- does not live in

:53:16. > :53:19.Leeds any more, he is close to Alistair and Jonny. This is his

:53:20. > :53:25.second home. He stays with friends. He has a really nice setup. He wants

:53:26. > :53:30.to push for a strong result today. He did a 70.3 back at home last

:53:31. > :53:33.weekend. He did a long race last weekend but speaking to him in the

:53:34. > :53:39.last couple of days, he says he has recovered well. He thinks that a

:53:40. > :53:45.course like the course in Leeds, with the start list that there is,

:53:46. > :53:49.Alistair and Jonny, other strong athletes in the swim and on the

:53:50. > :53:54.bike, it is a transfer him to have a strong result. Interesting that he

:53:55. > :53:59.chose to the long-distance race last weekend. It is a short amount of

:54:00. > :54:03.time. Eight days to recover. It was one of his first times racing the

:54:04. > :54:08.middle distance race. I wonder how he will do in the middle distance

:54:09. > :54:13.course. Lots of women suffer today. This course is deceptive. There are

:54:14. > :54:18.no great hills, but you have the difficult hell out of the swim. It

:54:19. > :54:23.sorts them out from the word go. You have the flat bit rolling into

:54:24. > :54:30.thyme, and the criterium style course, coming into thyme. Seven

:54:31. > :54:37.loops of 3.6 km. Last June I felt it was the hardest course I to do. On

:54:38. > :54:41.paper, I could not work out what the reason for that was. Alistair and

:54:42. > :54:46.Jonny helped to design the course we should not be surprised it is

:54:47. > :54:51.difficult. They dragged out of the wine is deceptive. The loop in the

:54:52. > :54:55.town centre is not only technical, but there are hills involved. There

:54:56. > :55:01.is a long drag the transition. Even the transition is on a hill. There

:55:02. > :55:07.is no time when you can recover. You always have to work. Going back to

:55:08. > :55:11.how Richard will do, he says he feels recovered, he says he feels

:55:12. > :55:16.good, but I do not think he will know until he gets out there on the

:55:17. > :55:21.bike, when the run. That will be key. Absolutely. Looking at the swim

:55:22. > :55:27.at the moment, they are taking it hard. They are pretty much together

:55:28. > :55:34.but this is the early stages. We will be able to see the leak -- the

:55:35. > :55:42.red swimmer in a moment. Vigurs Richard Varga. It is indeed. It is

:55:43. > :55:46.not. I think it is Raoul Shaw. He is a very strong swimmer. He has not

:55:47. > :55:53.done much of the World Series. Richard Varga is in second. Number

:55:54. > :55:58.14. Yes, Raoul Shaw, he has done lots of racing in France. He is

:55:59. > :56:01.always a lead outswinger. I am not sure if this is his first World

:56:02. > :56:08.Series. He has not done a massive amount. I am not surprised to see

:56:09. > :56:13.him up there. He is phenomenal. They have redesigned the swim caps to

:56:14. > :56:16.make them easier to spot for the spectators and the media. They have

:56:17. > :56:21.giant numbers on them. It does not solve the problem but it is better

:56:22. > :56:25.than it was. We can usually guess that Richard Varga will be near the

:56:26. > :56:30.front and so years. And Raoul Shaw, he is there. I Aurelien Raphael

:56:31. > :56:36.wears number 30. You should not be far away. We also expect Henri

:56:37. > :56:42.Schoeman to be near the front of the field. Yes, he is a strong swimmer,

:56:43. > :56:47.always there or thereabouts. Leading it out. He has raced hard, winning

:56:48. > :56:54.number two. He was second in a World Cup race a few weeks ago. He has had

:56:55. > :56:57.a solid start to the year. He won the bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro.

:56:58. > :57:03.He won the infamous race, the grand final. He was on the top of the

:57:04. > :57:11.podium there, but he would like a World Series podium in Leeds. He was

:57:12. > :57:19.fourth in Yokohama, second in Cagliari, and eighth in Cape Town on

:57:20. > :57:22.the Gold Coast, eighth in the Gold Coast and second in Cape Town. He

:57:23. > :57:27.would like to be on the podium today. He had the bronze medal in

:57:28. > :57:31.Rio de Janeiro. For many people he was a surprise medallist. At that

:57:32. > :57:36.time, he had not had a World Series podium at all. He had a strong

:57:37. > :57:41.performer with lots of top fives and top tens, but he had no big

:57:42. > :57:44.performances. To have your first-ever podium at the Olympics is

:57:45. > :57:50.special. Definitely the place to do it. Since then, he had the great

:57:51. > :57:54.performance in the grand final, where perversely he benefited from

:57:55. > :57:59.the downfall of Alistair and Jonny. Since then, it has been his only

:58:00. > :58:02.World Series podium. He would like to do it in circumstances where he

:58:03. > :58:08.is not benefiting from the failure of anywhere else. Numbers to look

:58:09. > :58:13.for, Jonathan Brownlee, 26, he is near the front, older brother

:58:14. > :58:18.Alistair has 28. If you're watching in high definition on a 40 inch flat

:58:19. > :58:21.screen at home, you might get a better view than we do. The Brownlee

:58:22. > :58:26.brothers, certainly half of the Brownlee brothers, near the front.

:58:27. > :58:34.Jonny making the better start, but Raoul Shaw, 44, has clear water

:58:35. > :58:41.ahead. He has an effortless looking stroke. They have two laps to swim.

:58:42. > :58:45.They will exit the water at the end of the first lap. The ramp will take

:58:46. > :58:50.them back onto the pontoon and they will dive back into start the second

:58:51. > :58:55.lap. We will get a full check on the runners at that stage. Look at the

:58:56. > :59:00.crowds in Roundhay Park. Hundreds enjoying this one. The population of

:59:01. > :59:04.Leeds is half a million. With the numbers we have in the park and the

:59:05. > :59:10.city, half of them are watching the race today. We approach the end of

:59:11. > :59:14.the first lap. It will be the Frenchman Raoul Shaw, 44, first to

:59:15. > :59:20.claim the ramp. Richard Varga will not be far behind. Jonathan Brownlee

:59:21. > :59:25.is with the leaders as well. We will get the full check.

:59:26. > :59:34.Pierre Le Corre is a good swimmer. Then Drew Box. Peter Denteneer from

:59:35. > :59:40.Belgium. Alistair Brownlee is eight seconds away from the frontrunners.

:59:41. > :59:45.David Luis of Portugal. Henri Schoeman is further behind than he

:59:46. > :59:52.might have liked. Mark Austin in 17th position. Tom Bishop within 15

:59:53. > :59:56.seconds of the lead. That just about accounts for most, if not all of the

:59:57. > :59:59.British entrants. Gordon Benson coming through in 20 seconds -- 20

:00:00. > :00:11.seconds off the pace. The group hasn't really split that

:00:12. > :00:15.much. It has got to be a career-best swim for Adam Bowden coming out in

:00:16. > :00:26.front of Alistair, and only about seven seconds down on the lead so if

:00:27. > :00:29.he can hold together for the second lap it really sets up his race. He's

:00:30. > :00:33.had some really good results in the World Series and his often

:00:34. > :00:38.overlooked when the -- with the other superstars in the team, but it

:00:39. > :00:46.will be a great result for him if he can stay in that pack and run from

:00:47. > :00:50.there. Adam Bowden has had about eight or nine top ten performances,

:00:51. > :00:56.and a career-best finish last year when he finished ninth overall in

:00:57. > :01:02.the series. He's in his twilight years but when he's strong, he's

:01:03. > :01:07.really strong. He had a fifth... No seventh place finish last year in

:01:08. > :01:12.Leeds. He likes racing here, he knows the area well and I expect a

:01:13. > :01:17.good performance from him. Henri Schoeman a bit down, he was about 15

:01:18. > :01:23.seconds down, but this is a tough swim here today, isn't it? Yes, and

:01:24. > :01:27.a little bit mixed up almost. You wouldn't have expected some of the

:01:28. > :01:33.people to come out the water so high to do so. We will see some of the

:01:34. > :01:37.stronger swimmers like Henri Schoeman, who hasn't had such a good

:01:38. > :01:41.first lap, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make up some ground on

:01:42. > :01:45.the second lap because in his own head he will back himself. I

:01:46. > :01:50.wouldn't be surprised to see someone like that move their way through the

:01:51. > :01:54.field. From a British perspective, I hope we see those guys having solid

:01:55. > :01:57.swims at the moment hold back together on the second lap and put

:01:58. > :02:05.themselves in a strong position for the rest of the race. 500 metres to

:02:06. > :02:09.swim before they will pick up their bikes and immediately negotiate one

:02:10. > :02:18.of the toughest starts to triathlon bike event we have seen, straight

:02:19. > :02:34.uphill and out of the pack. It is a 12.3 kilometre ride down, up into

:02:35. > :02:41.Roundhay, then they will ride 7 3.76 kilometre loops around the city

:02:42. > :02:46.before concluding with a ten K run. We had both the Brownlee brothers up

:02:47. > :02:52.near the leaders, and Adam Bowden is right up there as well. None of the

:02:53. > :02:57.British seven - we have seven British men starting the race today

:02:58. > :03:01.and they have all made a positive start to this World Triathlon Series

:03:02. > :03:06.race. I think the thing to be said about this swim is it doesn't really

:03:07. > :03:11.end with the swim because there is almost like an extra part when you

:03:12. > :03:15.get to the top of the hill. We saw in the women's race it was broken up

:03:16. > :03:20.really on coming out of the swim, then going up the hill, but looking

:03:21. > :03:24.back to last year we had the same thing happen. The Brownlee brothers

:03:25. > :03:28.broke away really early. I think these guys are bit more wise to

:03:29. > :03:33.that, they will have been practising the transition which is really

:03:34. > :03:39.crucial in this race. This course almost has four phases it is swim,

:03:40. > :03:49.end of the swim through T1, up the hill and out of Roundhay Park, then

:03:50. > :03:55.the run. It is make or break, and last year it proved vital in both

:03:56. > :04:02.races. It definitely caught me out last year, I didn't have a good

:04:03. > :04:07.transition and lost the front of the pack. I think they will be a lot of

:04:08. > :04:12.people with that in mind. If they will have been people with any sense

:04:13. > :04:20.they will have been checking out this year, looking at what they will

:04:21. > :04:25.have to do. But the flip side is if you have someone like an Alistair or

:04:26. > :04:30.Jonny, if they go for it up the hill, what can you do? If you are

:04:31. > :04:37.not strong enough, it could be a problem. For people who haven't seen

:04:38. > :04:42.the transition, the hill literally comes as you step foot out of the

:04:43. > :04:46.transition. You don't get chance to get your breath back, it is straight

:04:47. > :04:54.up the hill. Let's go down Waterside.

:04:55. > :04:58.I'm standing here with Mark and I want to ask, how are the Brownlee

:04:59. > :05:03.brothers so good at the swimming? They just always deliver on race

:05:04. > :05:07.day. They have a skill, they improve the level when it comes to the

:05:08. > :05:12.important part and they always manage to find each other. We saw

:05:13. > :05:16.Jonny come out in second, but Alistair has some work to do today

:05:17. > :05:24.which we don't normally see. How do they find each other? I don't know,

:05:25. > :05:31.they must love each other so much, I have no idea how they do it but they

:05:32. > :05:38.are incredibly skilled at the race craft. And this is a fantastic

:05:39. > :05:43.setting. Yes, a beautiful setting. This second part has really made an

:05:44. > :05:50.impact on the race. OK, thank you. 150 metres to go and

:05:51. > :05:54.Richard Varga has surged to the front of the field. A regular

:05:55. > :05:59.training partner of the Brownlee brothers. He has based himself back

:06:00. > :06:03.in his home country of Slovakia and he likes to return and the Brownlee

:06:04. > :06:08.brothers will be happy to have him along in the first stage of the

:06:09. > :06:13.triathlon. They certainly will, let's hope Alistair is up there as

:06:14. > :06:17.well. He has turned his hand to the slightly long-distance racing.

:06:18. > :06:21.Unfortunately last week he wasn't feeling so great and dropped out but

:06:22. > :06:25.that might work in his favour because he might find himself a bit

:06:26. > :06:32.fresher coming into this race and he will need some good bike legs on

:06:33. > :06:37.him. Yes, it will be interesting to see how he pulls up from last week.

:06:38. > :06:40.He was racing in the same middle distance race Richard Varga was

:06:41. > :06:47.doing in Slovakia and was actually in the lead, no surprise there, and

:06:48. > :06:52.as he came off the bike he seemed to lose his legs. He really struggled

:06:53. > :06:57.in the first part of the run. But Alistair, we are used to seeing him

:06:58. > :07:04.run fluidly and fast and looking in control, and he just wasn't. He did

:07:05. > :07:08.pull out of the race midway through, what was a half marathon at the end

:07:09. > :07:12.of it. So hopefully he has reserved himself a little bit and might be

:07:13. > :07:16.feeling fresher than he would otherwise have been for today.

:07:17. > :07:22.Something obviously happened to him in that race, it wasn't the Alistair

:07:23. > :07:27.Brownlee we all know so well. He said he felt terrible from the first

:07:28. > :07:32.stroke, his legs just went as soon as he got off the bike so from a

:07:33. > :07:36.British perspective we are all hoping to see the Alistair Brownlee

:07:37. > :07:41.that can deliver spectacular performances. Here they come, stage

:07:42. > :07:46.one complete. Richard Varga first to make his way towards the bikes,

:07:47. > :07:58.closely followed by his former training partner Jonny Brownlee.

:07:59. > :08:09.Then Shaw, Le Corre. Schumann is there or thereabouts. Then there is

:08:10. > :08:12.a gap, the first group of 21 which includes Tom Bishop, separated by

:08:13. > :08:17.about 20 seconds, then a further break. So we have lots of British

:08:18. > :08:27.interest. We could have a decent sized group, but it will all unfold

:08:28. > :08:32.shortly. Who will be able to make a decisive break early on? Jonny

:08:33. > :08:37.Brownlee arrives at his allotted space, multitasking as he steps out

:08:38. > :08:43.of his wet suit and puts on his bike helmet. His older brother alongside,

:08:44. > :08:52.just a fraction behind. Picks up his bike, and there is a stumble from

:08:53. > :08:58.Adam Bowden. Le Corre, first to get on board, and away they go. This is

:08:59. > :09:03.looking a much larger group than it was this time last year, but

:09:04. > :09:07.straightaway look at them go. Look at the speed they are putting in up

:09:08. > :09:12.the hill. It's interesting, they are choosing to put their feet in

:09:13. > :09:15.because none of the girls did that but Jonny has put his feet in and

:09:16. > :09:23.now he's really going up this hill and splitting the pack. It's so

:09:24. > :09:27.exciting this part of the race, because it is like the fourth

:09:28. > :09:30.section of the race. Normally you see them coming out altogether,

:09:31. > :09:49.hundreds together, but we have the four athletes together. We have Le

:09:50. > :09:53.Corre and Raphael. This could be a serious working quartet. Absolutely,

:09:54. > :09:56.great start from the Brownlee brothers. If anyone questioned

:09:57. > :10:03.whether Alistair would bring his swim arms, he has proved today it

:10:04. > :10:09.was a few seconds down on the first lap, he came out of the water

:10:10. > :10:15.virtually in a top five position. He knows this position, it's like a

:10:16. > :10:27.touch of deja vu because they found themselves in the same place last

:10:28. > :10:32.year. Raphael And the Brownlee brothers away there, and that is

:10:33. > :10:46.what they did last year. The only substitute is that we have Le Corre

:10:47. > :10:54.in that group instead of Royle, as we had last year. So to recap we

:10:55. > :11:04.have Alistair Brownlee, Jonny Brownlee, Aurelien Raphael... At the

:11:05. > :11:11.front we have four Pierre Le Corre... These two have got out of

:11:12. > :11:21.the park and they are continuing their descent, the 12 K ride back

:11:22. > :11:33.down to the city centre. Together they can do some serious damage. A

:11:34. > :11:38.group of four opened up... These guys have got to be very brave. They

:11:39. > :11:42.have got to work incredibly hard with the Brownlee brothers. Probably

:11:43. > :11:46.quite daunting to be with the Brownlee brothers because they have

:11:47. > :11:49.so much riding on them, the Brownlee brothers, and I think they are

:11:50. > :11:57.absolutely hammering now. They have Pierre Le Corre, a former under 23

:11:58. > :12:03.world champion. He's been in the sport for a roundabout seven years

:12:04. > :12:08.now so Pierre Le Corre is a very strong athlete as well. This is a

:12:09. > :12:11.very good quartet. He is also a strong runner so somebody they

:12:12. > :12:16.wouldn't necessarily have wanted in the group because he poses a threat

:12:17. > :12:19.when it comes to the run. That said he is not necessarily the same

:12:20. > :12:25.standard Jonny and Alistair have been when at the best so it will be

:12:26. > :12:29.interesting to see how Alistair and Jonny perform when they get to the

:12:30. > :12:33.run but we have a long time before that happens. It seems like a

:12:34. > :12:39.massive gap has opened up straightaway, there is no one else

:12:40. > :12:43.in sight. This is very familiar. This is exactly what we saw in the

:12:44. > :12:48.women's competition with each Duffy group steaming away as they went out

:12:49. > :12:53.of the suburb of Roundhay before making their way to the city centre.

:12:54. > :12:58.They have done some serious damage, the Brownlee brothers and the two

:12:59. > :13:04.French riders, and away they go. How long can they keep this up? This is

:13:05. > :13:08.the chasing group, Henri Schoeman out in front. Is that Kristian

:13:09. > :13:17.Blummenfelt? The Norwegian, he's a good triathlete. They are only just

:13:18. > :13:23.coming past that parade of shops that the Brownlee group passed

:13:24. > :13:30.around 30 seconds ago. I'm eagerly awaiting our first time check to see

:13:31. > :13:33.how much time they have put in. That aerial info was good because it

:13:34. > :13:39.showed how far back they were. But you always want to see the figures,

:13:40. > :13:42.see what the time check is, who is in the groups, and I think we all

:13:43. > :13:47.expected Alistair and Jonny would try to put some kind of break in as

:13:48. > :13:52.they have done but to see it go so dramatically, so quickly, I'm not

:13:53. > :14:11.sure anyone expected to see it go that fast. That is Luis of Portugal.

:14:12. > :14:16.Vincent Luis races for France. Tom Bishop, who is enjoying a cracking

:14:17. > :14:22.season, second in Abu Dhabi, a regular here in Leeds, trains with

:14:23. > :14:29.his university compatriots in this city. Went head-to-head with Gordon

:14:30. > :14:33.Benson to join the Brownlee brothers in Rio last August. Gordon Benson we

:14:34. > :14:43.haven't seen yet, but Tom Bishop is in this group. Great to see Tom

:14:44. > :14:47.Bishop in there. Fernando Alarza is in there too. I think the Brownlee

:14:48. > :14:55.brothers would like to stay away from him. In Abu Dhabi he actually

:14:56. > :15:02.had the fastest run, he lost 15 seconds to Mulder although he

:15:03. > :15:07.actually out run mauler. -- Mario Mola. He is in the second part. We

:15:08. > :15:15.will have to wait until about 28 kilometres to get a time check I

:15:16. > :15:23.believe, when they go over the time mats. Fernando has sought to become

:15:24. > :15:28.Mr consistent, when you take out the Olympics he's been inside the top

:15:29. > :15:34.ten in every race in nearly two years in the World Series so his a

:15:35. > :15:39.lot of podiums and that's why he's become number one in the world

:15:40. > :15:43.because he so consistent. Yes, incredible season so far. Got on the

:15:44. > :15:48.podium in the Australian race on the Gold Coast, he is the number one

:15:49. > :16:06.ranked triathlete the world. They have Alarza and Visentin. They

:16:07. > :16:10.could go on and get a couple of podiums. I would say that the

:16:11. > :16:13.Spanish are the strongest nation in the world, along with Great Britain.

:16:14. > :16:18.I was talking about the inclusion of the relay in the Olympics. Great

:16:19. > :16:23.Britain has the strongest combined team of males and females in the

:16:24. > :16:37.world. The women have the American side, the males have the Spanish,

:16:38. > :16:41.but we have strength in depth. Alistair is winning the Green camp.

:16:42. > :16:46.He is at the back of this four. Jonny Brownlee takes it up and

:16:47. > :16:50.glances around. They are keeping a close eye on Pierre Le Corre and

:16:51. > :17:00.Aurelien Raphael, who they have had for companies since they left the

:17:01. > :17:04.park. We got the time graphic a few moments ago that suggested that the

:17:05. > :17:10.chase was just 26 -- 23 seconds behind. That is not massive. It may

:17:11. > :17:13.not be accurate but these guys have to keep working. Absolutely. I am

:17:14. > :17:19.not sure how recent the time gap was, but the boys will be trying to

:17:20. > :17:24.hold the gap until they get into the inner city circuit in town. It is

:17:25. > :17:29.twisty and Turney, it favours a small group much more than a large

:17:30. > :17:33.group. It will be so much harder for the big group to reel them in. If

:17:34. > :17:36.they can hold onto the gap, when they get into the town, it will be

:17:37. > :17:42.increasingly hard for anyone to bring them back. We saw that in the

:17:43. > :17:46.women's race. That little group of four, even with the inexperience, it

:17:47. > :17:53.worked more effectively than the chase pack. On the big streets, the

:17:54. > :17:57.wider roads, long downhill sections, that favours a big group. The

:17:58. > :18:02.velocity you can get, the mass speed of the group is so much greater if

:18:03. > :18:09.you are with a big pack than a small group. However, that flips on its

:18:10. > :18:11.head when you get in the town, and you're going round sharp corners.

:18:12. > :18:15.Alistair was flying around that corner. He was trying to get a gap

:18:16. > :18:20.on his brother and the others in the pack. When they come in the town,

:18:21. > :18:25.with tight corners, things like that happen. The group spreads out and

:18:26. > :18:29.then it concertinas back together. The bigger the group, the bigger the

:18:30. > :18:34.effect. A small group is what you want going through the streets of

:18:35. > :18:40.the town. The chase pack has some incredible athletes, the likes of

:18:41. > :18:45.Alarza, the likes of Vincent Luis. They will not be giving up at this

:18:46. > :18:49.point in the race. If they can get into the town before the big group

:18:50. > :18:53.catches them, that will be significant. It will make it

:18:54. > :18:57.tougher. Lots of the girls said the wind made it pretty tough. The girls

:18:58. > :19:03.all said it was windy on the course. Once you're in the town, you're more

:19:04. > :19:07.protected. They will want to get in the town before the big group

:19:08. > :19:13.catches them. There are some big names in that big group as well.

:19:14. > :19:18.They will be thinking, if we can hold the gap to 30 seconds for the

:19:19. > :19:24.entire rides. They will get the chance of catching them and getting

:19:25. > :19:31.into the top positions. Alistair Brownlee is saying to Pierre Le

:19:32. > :19:36.Corre, what are you doing? These format -- these four are in trouble

:19:37. > :19:40.in terms of their position. It is tough, a big group hammering down

:19:41. > :19:44.the open roads. They will always make inroads when you have committed

:19:45. > :19:48.athletes. You absolutely had in the second pack. They will not want to

:19:49. > :19:53.let them go. Last year was an example of how not to do it. They

:19:54. > :19:57.let them go, the gap got massive. This year there are motivated to

:19:58. > :20:03.keep them inside. They want to get to them before it comes into the

:20:04. > :20:06.town and it becomes harder. It is Fernando Alarza, the world number

:20:07. > :20:13.one, who is leading the assault on the front group. He is pushing hard

:20:14. > :20:17.and out of the saddle. The leading group of four are slowly but surely

:20:18. > :20:26.being caught. I think they might be caught. The gap is about seven or

:20:27. > :20:31.eight seconds. They are just over halfway into the city. Yes, they are

:20:32. > :20:36.going to run out of real estate. Yes, they have a couple of

:20:37. > :20:41.kilometres, just over two before they hit the town centre. It may be

:20:42. > :20:46.in the interest to hold up and wait for them rather than burn any more

:20:47. > :20:53.energy. Alistair on the front, still looking word -- very determined. The

:20:54. > :20:57.chase pack is not massive, so it may not be the biggest group that we see

:20:58. > :21:01.going through the town. Alistair and Jonny Motherwell want to join the

:21:02. > :21:05.masses. They will want to press their advantage. Even if they only

:21:06. > :21:10.have a few seconds, they will feel that when they go through town... We

:21:11. > :21:15.are seeing a breakaway. They want to stay away from that group. The

:21:16. > :21:20.Brownlee brothers have woken up. They cannot rely on Pierre Le Corre

:21:21. > :21:26.and Aurelien Raphael. They have taken it on themselves. The brothers

:21:27. > :21:28.working confidently together. They saw the danger approaching led by

:21:29. > :21:35.Fernando Alarza, leading the chase group. Alistair said, enough of

:21:36. > :21:40.that, and away they went. The Brownlee brothers have taken it on.

:21:41. > :21:45.The problem is the French athletes. They just could not do it. They did

:21:46. > :21:49.not have the legs to ride with the brothers. Pierre Le Corre and

:21:50. > :21:53.Aurelien Raphael, they came into the race without race fitness. They were

:21:54. > :21:57.unable to go with the brothers. When it is the Brownlee brothers,

:21:58. > :22:02.anything can happen. We will see. They have lots of good talent trying

:22:03. > :22:06.to chase them down. I wonder if they were caught napping. They were

:22:07. > :22:11.probably looking around, checking that the group was coming, realising

:22:12. > :22:16.how close they were. At that point, Alistair and Jonny May domain. You

:22:17. > :22:20.cannot turn your back on a Brownlee, because they will attack. I love to

:22:21. > :22:24.watch their bravery. They do not give up. So many athletes would have

:22:25. > :22:32.looked around, you know what, they are going to catch us, let's wait.

:22:33. > :22:36.But they are not giving in. All of a sudden, the chase group are nowhere

:22:37. > :22:41.to be seen. It is like the Brownlee brothers collectively moved into

:22:42. > :22:43.overdrive. They are sharing the workload at the front, great

:22:44. > :22:49.communication. They had an extra line S. They're getting to the more

:22:50. > :22:55.populated parts of Leeds. Great crowds. These people are seeing what

:22:56. > :23:01.they wanted. The brothers leading the Leeds World Triathlon Series as

:23:02. > :23:04.they approach the city centre. We wanted entertainment and we're

:23:05. > :23:09.getting that, but I have my heart in my mouth because I do not know if

:23:10. > :23:15.they can stay away. We are chuckling to ourselves. This is the Brownlee

:23:16. > :23:20.show. There are thousands of people lining the streets, especially when

:23:21. > :23:23.you get into the city centre, who have come specifically to see

:23:24. > :23:28.Alistair and Jonny in the hope they will repeat what they did here last

:23:29. > :23:32.year, at the Olympics last year, and time and time again. We are seeing

:23:33. > :23:38.them take it by the scruff of the neck. They have not got a massive

:23:39. > :23:44.gap, but it has gone out again. Ten seconds, counting with the naked

:23:45. > :23:49.eye. They have got to hang on. It is a few hundred metres before they hit

:23:50. > :23:53.the town. For viewers out there, when you're riding these open roads,

:23:54. > :23:59.it is easier for the big, fat chasing pack. You have 56 committed

:24:00. > :24:05.athletes, each taking their turn. With Jonathan and Alistair, it is a

:24:06. > :24:11.lot tougher. We have heard how windy it is. In the chase pack, when

:24:12. > :24:15.Alarza, sorry, when Pierre Le Corre and Aurelien Raphael came back into

:24:16. > :24:18.the main pack, they would have taken a couple of seconds to reorganise

:24:19. > :24:24.and realise Alistair and Jonny had gone. You have got to keep pushing.

:24:25. > :24:29.Now they are chasing them down. It is so interesting to see whether

:24:30. > :24:34.they will hold an before they get to the town circuit. The crowds will be

:24:35. > :24:38.looking at the big screens. They will be hoping that the Brownlee

:24:39. > :24:44.brothers can make it into town by themselves. They are being hunted

:24:45. > :24:47.down. The Olympic gold medallist leads the Olympic silver medallist

:24:48. > :24:54.as they approach Leeds city centre, their hometown. Back in the chase

:24:55. > :25:02.group, you can see that the first athlete out of the water, Shaw,

:25:03. > :25:06.Henri Schoeman, they are forcing the pace. They are trying to force the

:25:07. > :25:12.gap on the brothers. 11 seconds the last time we got the count. We will

:25:13. > :25:16.get an official check when they cross the blue carpet to complete

:25:17. > :25:21.this first unique lap. After that there will be seven laps around the

:25:22. > :25:30.city centre, each of them just under four kilometres. 3.7 TM long. If

:25:31. > :25:33.nothing else, the athletes in the second pack are having the legs

:25:34. > :25:39.ridding of them. They have been hammering it. Some further back will

:25:40. > :25:44.be getting an easier ride, but there are lots of committed riders in the

:25:45. > :25:47.second pack trying to chase the Brownlee brothers down. They are

:25:48. > :25:55.within striking distance of the city centre. They are agonisingly close.

:25:56. > :25:59.A few more metres until they hit the first hill. The air at the bottom

:26:00. > :26:05.now, past transition. About 300 metres to go. Those people in the

:26:06. > :26:11.main pack are working hard and that is what Alistair and Jonny want. The

:26:12. > :26:16.first lap is called the bike into. The brothers are about to complete

:26:17. > :26:21.it. A cacophony of noise awaits them. Alistair out of the saddle,

:26:22. > :26:33.putting on a show for the Leeds triathlon fans. We will get an

:26:34. > :26:36.official time check, six seconds to Kristian Blummenfelt, the first to

:26:37. > :26:40.cross the line. This is where the crunch happens, the first lap

:26:41. > :26:46.through the town, and the big pack against the two. Will it stay at six

:26:47. > :26:52.seconds, or will it go out? It will be so interesting to see. 21

:26:53. > :26:58.athletes in the chase pack. The Brownlee brothers, numbers one and

:26:59. > :27:03.two at the moment. This is where the race gets exciting. The roads get

:27:04. > :27:07.narrower and caution is needed, and great technical skill. Absolutely,

:27:08. > :27:11.having read in this course last year, it is challenging an almost

:27:12. > :27:15.every level, physically, the technical ability you have, the

:27:16. > :27:20.tactics you employ. They are speeding down to the U-turn. It will

:27:21. > :27:25.be interesting to see how the chase pack candles that. There are 19

:27:26. > :27:29.athletes in the chase pack with two upfront. If you number 19 going

:27:30. > :27:34.around the U-turn, you're pretty much single file. It is tough to get

:27:35. > :27:38.yourself back in the mix before you get to the next corner, which is why

:27:39. > :27:44.the big group is not favoured in this course. You would rather be in

:27:45. > :27:48.appear than in a big group. Yes, now they are in the city centre, it is

:27:49. > :27:56.definitely an advantage. I would not be surprised to see the group behind

:27:57. > :27:59.splinter as well. Yes, very tight on the U-turn, particularly coming out

:28:00. > :28:04.of it. If too many of you are coming in, you have nowhere to go. Problems

:28:05. > :28:10.will definitely occur. It is also downhill, so it is hard, you are

:28:11. > :28:13.carrying in lots of speed, it is a tight exit. You have got to turn

:28:14. > :28:18.tightly with so much speed, you have to prepare yourself for the exit. It

:28:19. > :28:21.takes a bit of getting used to. They have seven laps, they will be OK. I

:28:22. > :28:38.make about eight seconds, counting with

:28:39. > :28:40.the naked eye, it was six when they cross the finish line a few moments

:28:41. > :28:43.ago. There are little climb. The gap is owed to eight seconds, so a

:28:44. > :28:45.couple of seconds added by the brothers. This chase group are

:28:46. > :28:47.definitely learn the lessons of 2016. They are not willing to let

:28:48. > :28:50.them disappeared into the distance as they did last year. I am

:28:51. > :29:00.fascinated to see whether it comes back or whether they are now in the

:29:01. > :29:05.town, it will stay, and they will be able to get away. You want a bit of

:29:06. > :29:14.a race as well, but as fans of the brothers, you want them to stay

:29:15. > :29:18.away. A few of the athletes, Shaw, he did work to bring back the

:29:19. > :29:22.brothers, but he is sitting at the back of the pack. This pack is

:29:23. > :29:26.loaded with some decent runners. Yes, both of the boys, Alistair and

:29:27. > :29:32.Jonny will want to be away from these people. More than anything,

:29:33. > :29:37.they love racing in this manner and taking the race to the opposition,

:29:38. > :29:41.saying, here we are. You will have to ride better than you have ridden

:29:42. > :29:46.before. You will have to run better than you have before if you want to

:29:47. > :29:52.beat us. Yes, they are the poster boys of this contest. When you look

:29:53. > :29:56.around the square where we are situated, actually, there are are

:29:57. > :30:01.some posters argue, but there are lots of posters of the brothers,

:30:02. > :30:07.individual posters of Alistair and Jonathan, posters of them together.

:30:08. > :30:10.They are the most famous sons of Leeds. They are giving the crowd

:30:11. > :30:16.what they have come to see. I think they have stretched that lead. Tight

:30:17. > :30:30.turns to navigate, and easier in Ojo than in a group. -- easier in a

:30:31. > :30:34.pair. I think you are right. It is starting to go out. It would be easy

:30:35. > :30:38.for them to say, let's go back to the pack, let's save our legs, but

:30:39. > :30:45.they are not doing that. They are pressing on. They know the first

:30:46. > :30:48.laps in the town are crucial for getting the gap out. I do not know

:30:49. > :30:52.what is going through their mind, the pressure of wanting to perform

:30:53. > :30:56.for the fans that have come out, it must be massive. They may not be

:30:57. > :31:00.thinking of that. What does it do to an athlete, you know the people of

:31:01. > :31:04.Leeds, what does it do to you in terms of how you feel in a race?

:31:05. > :31:10.Last year I had to manage my emotions. I was excited. Really

:31:11. > :31:13.excited to race in a city that I lived in at the time. I wanted to

:31:14. > :31:19.perform for my friends and family who were coming to watch, the people

:31:20. > :31:23.I knew. People who were racing, people who were not. It adds an

:31:24. > :31:28.extra element of desire to really want to perform. Not just for

:31:29. > :31:33.yourself, but for other people. I was delighted I got a medal last

:31:34. > :31:38.year. I did not have the best race, I was put under pressure at times. I

:31:39. > :31:42.found it hard but I manage the podium. These boys, I am not sure

:31:43. > :31:45.they feel pressure, especially Alistair. He is made of something

:31:46. > :31:56.else and he revels in this. Is looking over his shoulder and all

:31:57. > :32:02.he can see is screaming fans and tarmac, no chase pack in view.

:32:03. > :32:08.Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee together. It is climbing, it was six

:32:09. > :32:17.seconds by the time they descended from the park. That gap has almost

:32:18. > :32:22.doubled. So a good job so far by the brothers. The athlete for me doing

:32:23. > :32:28.all the work in the front park is Kristian Blummenfelt. You will need

:32:29. > :32:34.the others to help as well if they are going to pull back the time. The

:32:35. > :32:39.Brownlees are not clear by any stretch of the imagination. We know

:32:40. > :32:44.that Kristian Blummenfelt is an incredible athlete. He finished

:32:45. > :32:49.third in Yokohama, great race for him and over the last 12 months he

:32:50. > :32:53.has come of age. Still young but he's been on the podium several

:32:54. > :32:59.times now. Yes last year at the beginning of the season he had a

:33:00. > :33:09.podium, in the European cup I think, then the next week won a race, then

:33:10. > :33:15.got another podium the week after. He is someone Alistair and Jonathan

:33:16. > :33:23.know quite well, and it's not really a surprise for me to see him on the

:33:24. > :33:33.front of the bike park. In Yokohama who looked like he was dead and

:33:34. > :33:38.buried and look -- and brought it back and made his way onto the

:33:39. > :33:54.podium. He is not a classic triathlon shape, he has a Burrell --

:33:55. > :33:59.barrel chest. We will see this second pack gradually segment and

:34:00. > :34:04.athletes are going to segment. I think 19 was too many coming into

:34:05. > :34:07.the city centre loop, especially when you have Alistair and Jonny

:34:08. > :34:16.pushing the race harder and harder, then you have the likes of Alarza

:34:17. > :34:26.and Schoeman, someone has to be at the back of the pack.

:34:27. > :34:34.Vicky, we know you wanted to be here racing, how are things progressing?

:34:35. > :34:37.We are getting there. I have had four weeks since Yokohama, haven't

:34:38. > :34:43.done any running since then, just started riding again this week. I

:34:44. > :34:48.was in an immobilising boot which came off earlier this week so I can

:34:49. > :34:52.walk around normally now but for me realistic I'm looking at probably

:34:53. > :34:58.racing in Stockholm. We are keeping an eye on that tentatively, see how

:34:59. > :35:06.the rehab goes. If you cannot be out there, you are in the next best

:35:07. > :35:13.place watching the drama unfold. The Brownlee brothers have extended

:35:14. > :35:19.their lead to 18 seconds mid lap, doing some serious damage now. They

:35:20. > :35:27.really are. I panic and think, are they hurting the legs, but they have

:35:28. > :35:31.said on more than one occasion they like that before they go out on a

:35:32. > :35:36.romp. They will run relatively similarly, whether they have done a

:35:37. > :35:40.hard bike or and easy bike, not that I've ever known them to do an easy

:35:41. > :35:50.bike, but bikes when there have been a bigger four. There will be a fair

:35:51. > :35:56.amount of communication going on, but they know each other so well,

:35:57. > :36:01.what happens if Jonny is going, my legs are hurting, do you think

:36:02. > :36:05.Alistair will say he will give him a bit of a ride? I don't know if

:36:06. > :36:18.Alistair would ever do that. He's quite a tough task master, isn't he?

:36:19. > :36:24.He is so rare, he is unique in the way he will dig that little bit

:36:25. > :36:28.deeper. He has always got that little bit extra. He can perform

:36:29. > :36:32.that bit better than you expect him to, even when you know where his

:36:33. > :36:38.fitness is apt, he will still deliver on the day. It is something

:36:39. > :36:43.he may be aware of for this race. I don't know, I'm speculating but he

:36:44. > :36:47.has been training more for the long-distance races whereas Jonny

:36:48. > :36:54.has been training just for this. He still firmly on the ITU circuit. It

:36:55. > :36:57.is worth emphasising this is Alistair's first race on this

:36:58. > :37:01.distance since Cozumel when he didn't really complete the race

:37:02. > :37:06.because he had to carry his brother home. He has gone to the middle

:37:07. > :37:11.distance, but you wouldn't know it because he's making it look like he

:37:12. > :37:16.has been doing it all year. Now they come into the city centre again,

:37:17. > :37:22.with the noise levels increasing ever more because the crowd can see

:37:23. > :37:27.that the gaps they have over the next group is significant. It was

:37:28. > :37:33.six seconds after they came down from the park. 11 seconds, as they

:37:34. > :37:41.make the right turn and hit the blue carpet, the noise levels rise again.

:37:42. > :37:44.The clock ticks on, the Leeds crowd start to get excited as they sense

:37:45. > :37:47.it could be another one of those days where the Brownlee brothers

:37:48. > :37:59.dominate the sporting story of this city today. 16, 17, 18, 19, still

:38:00. > :38:05.continues to climb. It will be closer to 26 seconds. 24 seconds...

:38:06. > :38:10.What a second a lap that was, they have doubled their advantage. And I

:38:11. > :38:15.wouldn't be surprised if we start to see them balloon out. It was easy

:38:16. > :38:21.for the Chase pack to want to reel them in, they can see them at the

:38:22. > :38:24.other end of the blue carpet but now they are out of sight and discourse

:38:25. > :38:28.has so many turns they will rarely get to see them on the course and

:38:29. > :38:34.that's when Alistair and Jonny can get away. Just noticing Henri

:38:35. > :38:38.Schoeman from South Africa and Kristian Blummenfelt from Norway

:38:39. > :38:43.having a chat, asking what's going on because it looks like they have

:38:44. > :38:47.done all the work. As you said, there is a motivation, they can see

:38:48. > :38:52.them, then suddenly they slightly lost the plot. Then they are

:38:53. > :38:57.slightly demoralised, then before you know it there is 20 seconds,

:38:58. > :38:59.heading up to 30 seconds, but Schoeman sensing the real danger

:39:00. > :39:07.that if they don't do something special in the next few laps, the

:39:08. > :39:11.Brownlees are gone. They will have to do something special now, and the

:39:12. > :39:15.carrot dangled in front of them has gone and they have got to pick up

:39:16. > :39:20.the pace. We have seen Schoeman on the front a lot, Bloom and felt on

:39:21. > :39:26.the front a lot, and are they thinking hang on, why am I doing all

:39:27. > :39:33.of the work? So the doubts start to creep in, especially if they are not

:39:34. > :39:43.holding the gap as they want to. That was Vincent Luis from France.

:39:44. > :39:48.He didn't race very much last year at all. I think Rio was one of the

:39:49. > :39:53.few races he chose to race, and I thought a few years ago he would be

:39:54. > :40:02.a big threat to the Brownlees, and I think he is, but he still has some

:40:03. > :40:06.work to do. Let's check on the chasing group, Adam Bowden is in

:40:07. > :40:19.there. Mark Austin is in the chase group. Raphael, the strong swimmer,

:40:20. > :40:31.Richard Varga, Pierre Le Corre, all now part of this large chase group.

:40:32. > :40:36.Going back to Vincent Luis, you are right, when he's on form he is a

:40:37. > :40:41.genuine competitor. Him and Jonny have had a lot of battles as they

:40:42. > :40:44.come through the ranks. Unfortunately he is injury prone and

:40:45. > :40:50.he has lost out a lot of racing because of the injuries he has hard,

:40:51. > :40:54.and last year his first distance race of the year was at the Olympic

:40:55. > :40:58.Games and with hindsight that basically cost him. The ten

:40:59. > :41:08.kilometres he hadn't done, when it came to it on the run. When you look

:41:09. > :41:12.at it, on paper you think Vincent Luis could get the bronze medal, and

:41:13. > :41:27.afterwards he said he had made a mistake. We have lost Pereira of

:41:28. > :41:31.Portugal. Meanwhile the Brownlee brothers are maintaining this

:41:32. > :41:36.intensity. Last time we checked the margin was 24 seconds, I have just

:41:37. > :41:40.seen a clock that suggested they have added another for microseconds.

:41:41. > :41:43.In that case I wouldn't be surprised if it was 30 seconds by the time

:41:44. > :41:49.they crossed the line next time around. They have 16.5 kilometres

:41:50. > :41:54.still to ride before they will hang up the bikes and begin the 10,000

:41:55. > :41:57.metre run. I got a feeling they will start possibly enjoying this because

:41:58. > :42:01.there was a couple of laps when they were looking back and can see the

:42:02. > :42:09.chase pack. The pressure is still on. At this point in the race they

:42:10. > :42:13.can start enjoying it. As we saw, they were away at the beginning,

:42:14. > :42:19.then it came back very close. Seven seconds it was down to, that gap was

:42:20. > :42:25.nothing, then they lost the two Frenchman, and they went for it. 11

:42:26. > :42:29.seconds when they came through at the beginning of the second lap.

:42:30. > :42:33.They worked for that advantage for a good ten kilometres, and now they

:42:34. > :42:38.can probably start to relax and enjoy it a little more. Just noticed

:42:39. > :42:42.Alistair notched his elbow, to suggest he wants his brother to come

:42:43. > :42:50.through and take his turn but Jonny is the kilometres click down now, 16

:42:51. > :42:56.to go. We don't want to talk too soon. 16 kilometres is still a long

:42:57. > :43:03.way to go. More than anything we want to see that gap ballooned now.

:43:04. > :43:09.You want to see that they have made themselves pretty secure when it

:43:10. > :43:14.comes to the run. So here we go again. The music is on, the volume

:43:15. > :43:19.goes up and they are on their feet to watch the Brownlee brothers

:43:20. > :43:25.sailing past them through transition at breakneck speed. The last time we

:43:26. > :43:31.checked at this point, 24 seconds was the advantage. We are expecting

:43:32. > :43:37.it to be around the 30 second mark, possibly even greater than that by

:43:38. > :43:43.the time the Henri Schoeman group come through. They are still on the

:43:44. > :43:49.tarmac and 28, 29 seconds has gone. It will be more like 40 seconds by

:43:50. > :43:55.the time these guys stop the clock. Again, on lap three this time by the

:43:56. > :44:02.Brownlee brothers, 37 seconds. 11, then 24, then 37. This race is

:44:03. > :44:06.heading in one direction only, excellent triathlon so far. What do

:44:07. > :44:12.you do when you have Alistair and Jonny decide they are going, what is

:44:13. > :44:16.your response going to be? You had some strong cyclists in the chase

:44:17. > :44:20.group who put that work in. They got them down to six seconds, they were

:44:21. > :44:25.tantalisingly close, then Alistair and Jonny went into another gear.

:44:26. > :44:31.They used the technical advantage and the fact there is just two of

:44:32. > :44:35.them, they pressed on and the gap is now ballooning. The crucial part was

:44:36. > :44:39.staying away from the big groups coming into the town, and of course

:44:40. > :44:43.they timed it to perfection. I thought that chase pack had them. It

:44:44. > :44:52.is the Brownlee brothers and anything is possible, and what they

:44:53. > :44:57.are doing now is stunning. Ruthless. It is pretty ruthless. They weren't

:44:58. > :45:01.willing to let anyone back into the game. This is the territory and they

:45:02. > :45:03.let everyone know it, and today they are letting everyone know in the

:45:04. > :45:12.best possible way. Alistair is doing much of their work

:45:13. > :45:19.at the moment. Jonny is happy to draft behind. There are little

:45:20. > :45:25.climb. 13.7 km left on two wheels. Lots of appreciative applause in

:45:26. > :45:31.this part of the city as the Brownlee brothers come past. What is

:45:32. > :45:36.so wonderful to watch is the mental strength of the Brownlee brothers.

:45:37. > :45:40.They do not give in. As you said earlier, Alistair goes into a

:45:41. > :45:45.different mode when he goes out to race. Looking back to 2010, I do not

:45:46. > :45:50.want to be negative, but he had the disaster in London. He was out in

:45:51. > :45:55.front. Javier Perez there. He was running for the finish and the

:45:56. > :46:00.collapsed. When he woke up, he said, what do you mean I've finished in

:46:01. > :46:05.tenth? He could not remember what happened. Very few athletes are able

:46:06. > :46:09.to go to those depths to achieve. Most people'sbody will not let them.

:46:10. > :46:13.You have a mechanism in your brain that stops you from going to those

:46:14. > :46:18.levels. There are some people, and there seemed to be a few of them in

:46:19. > :46:23.our sport, they can go to somewhere different. Alistair and Jonny both

:46:24. > :46:28.have that. Other athletes have the same situation. It is a bit scary.

:46:29. > :46:33.It certainly is. Both former world champions, Alistair on the world

:46:34. > :46:39.title for the first time in 2009. He added the title in 2011. Jonny was

:46:40. > :46:45.champion in 2012 and very nearly added another last year until the

:46:46. > :46:51.famous finish in Cozumel were Mario Mola eventually pipped him for the

:46:52. > :46:56.world title in 2016. Jonny Brownlee had the disaster in Cozumel that we

:46:57. > :47:02.will not talk about. We all know what happened there. You will be

:47:03. > :47:06.chasing points. He knows he has run himself short. You had that crash

:47:07. > :47:10.which was no fault of his own in Yokohama. He did not race in Abu

:47:11. > :47:15.Dhabi or the Gold Coast. He picked up a little injury and be decided,

:47:16. > :47:19.the British triathlon team, that you should sit out. He did not get a

:47:20. > :47:25.good finish in Yokohama silly did not get the points he needed. He

:47:26. > :47:45.needs a good finish if he is going to get the point is

:47:46. > :47:48.to contest the camping trip. Yes, you needs points in every race left

:47:49. > :47:50.in the series. Yokohama would have given him a buffer. Before Yokohama,

:47:51. > :47:53.Jonny had plenty of races. Now he is getting close to the wire. He needs

:47:54. > :47:56.a result in every single race. The way he is racing, you would not

:47:57. > :47:59.think that is such a hard thing to do, but you have to remember, he

:48:00. > :48:02.will not have Alistair with him for any other race this season. This is

:48:03. > :48:04.the only race that Alistair has committed to doing. He may do

:48:05. > :48:07.another one, but for the moment, this is it. Jonny will have to

:48:08. > :48:13.perform without Alistair in every other race. We are hoping they will

:48:14. > :48:17.team up for the relay in Nottingham, the new British triathlon mixed

:48:18. > :48:21.relay cup which has been announced. That is key with the news this week

:48:22. > :48:27.that the mixed relay will be included in the Olympic programme in

:48:28. > :48:31.Tokyo in 2020. The race in Nottingham takes an extra

:48:32. > :48:35.significance. Maybe the Brownlee brothers will be in action together

:48:36. > :48:40.on that day. They come into the most densely populated part of the city.

:48:41. > :48:45.Look at the numbers. I am reminded of the Olympic triathlon in Hyde

:48:46. > :48:51.Park in 2012. They were saving deep at the time. They are crammed in,

:48:52. > :48:56.making as much noise as they can. The Brownlees are about to complete

:48:57. > :49:02.lap four, which means they have three circuits of the city, past the

:49:03. > :49:08.Civic call, into Millennium Square. The advantage seems to be swelling

:49:09. > :49:14.further. At the end development on, it was 11 seconds. They doubled it

:49:15. > :49:19.to 24. On lap ago, the advantage had increased to 37 seconds. It may well

:49:20. > :49:26.stretch out to somewhere near the minute mark. We still have no sign

:49:27. > :49:30.of the chase group. They are miles behind. They are coming into view

:49:31. > :49:36.now. They are setting a pedestrian pace compared to the Brownlee

:49:37. > :49:39.brothers ahead of them. I would not be surprised if it is more than a

:49:40. > :49:43.minute. I saw this happening with the group ballooning out. I thought

:49:44. > :49:48.there would be a lap would it really went. People sat up. It is

:49:49. > :49:55.approaching a minute and they have not yet come into transition. The

:49:56. > :50:00.laps remaining on the cycle stage of today's race. It is one minute and

:50:01. > :50:03.four seconds. What a lap. An extraordinary amount of time added

:50:04. > :50:12.in the favour of the Brownlee brothers. From 37 seconds to 64

:50:13. > :50:17.seconds. Absolutely brilliant. Looking at the second pack, let's

:50:18. > :50:21.not call anything too soon. Who are the runners, we are looking at

:50:22. > :50:27.Alarza, but who else? There are some great riders and runners. You have

:50:28. > :50:33.Alarza, Schoeman and Blummenfelt. They are all in contention for the

:50:34. > :50:39.podium in Yokohama. Vincent Luis, on form, he is fantastic. You also have

:50:40. > :50:42.to mention Tom Bishop, who had his career-high with the second place in

:50:43. > :50:47.Abu Dhabi at the start of the season. From a British point of

:50:48. > :50:51.view, we have Adam Bowden and Mark Austin. Mark is the up-and-coming

:50:52. > :50:57.athlete, but Adam Bowden is so consistent. He is often forgotten

:50:58. > :51:01.because he is not the superstar that Alistair and Jonny are. He is one of

:51:02. > :51:05.our most consistent performers and anti-finish top names in the World

:51:06. > :51:09.Series last year. Tom Bishop is the athlete I want to see do well. He is

:51:10. > :51:13.still young but he has been around for years. He promised so much. He

:51:14. > :51:18.had a problem with nerves and dealing with the expectations and

:51:19. > :51:25.pressure of racing. Abu Dhabi was special for him. He ran side-by-side

:51:26. > :51:30.with Javier Gomes until near the end of the race. That was no flick. It

:51:31. > :51:35.was exciting to watch. I have known him for a long time, I have trained

:51:36. > :51:40.with him and Leeds. He is a nice guy and we thought he had the potential

:51:41. > :51:46.to put in those performances. He had not been able to deliver. While it

:51:47. > :51:49.was a jump from what he had done before, it was not surprising. The

:51:50. > :51:54.thing going forward from Abu Dhabi, he was unlucky in Yokohama, he

:51:55. > :51:59.crashed and had to chase back. He spent two laps dangling off the back

:52:00. > :52:04.of the pack. Once he closed those ten seconds, he was spent and it

:52:05. > :52:09.showed in the run. Hopefully the day, being in the main pack will

:52:10. > :52:13.mean we can see a run more like the one he had in Abu Dhabi. The

:52:14. > :52:19.brothers have extended their lead even more, one minute and 18

:52:20. > :52:22.seconds. We got a look at Tom Bishop and Mark Austin in the chase group.

:52:23. > :52:29.Back to the front of the race are they going into the narrow section

:52:30. > :52:33.of the course. Into the city centre streets. Some places are heavily

:52:34. > :52:38.populated. It is deserted and others. There are definite vantage

:52:39. > :52:42.points were the crowd enjoyed gathering to make as much noise as

:52:43. > :52:48.possible. They have the zigzag through the streets of Leeds, just

:52:49. > :52:53.to be a little more careful. They are riding close together. They do

:52:54. > :52:58.that every day, something they are used to, but they will want no

:52:59. > :53:02.contact between the two of them. They are technically good athletes.

:53:03. > :53:08.It is often said that Alistair and Jonny do not have weaknesses. They

:53:09. > :53:14.really do not. The swim well, they bike well, and the run well. They

:53:15. > :53:20.are tactically astute. Can we not talk too soon. I do not want to

:53:21. > :53:26.curse them. It is nerve-racking, but at the moment, they are riding away

:53:27. > :53:29.from the chase pack, about one minute and 20 seconds. After 12

:53:30. > :53:34.kilometres, from the long ride from the lake, they only had six seconds.

:53:35. > :53:40.At one point, it looked like they lost it. But they took it up another

:53:41. > :54:05.gear. They rode away. Lots of frustration in the second pack.

:54:06. > :54:08.We see Blummenfelt and Schoeman having little chats. This course is

:54:09. > :54:11.not conducive to a group of that size. A group of 16 athletes does

:54:12. > :54:13.not work on a course like this. Absolutely not. They're big

:54:14. > :54:16.opportunity was only way to the city centre course. If they were going to

:54:17. > :54:18.catch them, it had happen then. They got agonisingly close, but it did

:54:19. > :54:21.not happen. I saw Alistair's frontwheel and Jonny's rear wheel

:54:22. > :54:23.within two inches of each other. I was a bit nervous. They know what

:54:24. > :54:27.they are doing. They are preparing to complete lap five of seven. It

:54:28. > :54:32.remains to be seen not if but by how much their lead has grown. This has

:54:33. > :54:37.been a demonstration of power cycling at the front of the

:54:38. > :54:42.triathlon, an astonishing race for the brothers. The clock starts

:54:43. > :54:46.ticking. We wait as Alistair Brownlee, the Olympic champion,

:54:47. > :54:51.Jonathan Brownlee, the Olympic silver medallist, they come through

:54:52. > :54:55.and leave transition to set off on lap six. We may be waiting for a

:54:56. > :55:00.minute and a half, something of that nature, before the chase group,

:55:01. > :55:06.which contains the more British athletes, arrives in transition and

:55:07. > :55:10.stopped the clock. In lots of ways, the chase group will be kicking

:55:11. > :55:15.themselves. They were so close. They seem to look around at each other at

:55:16. > :55:20.the point when they caught the two French athletes. Alistair and Jonny

:55:21. > :55:23.chose their moment and take Don. They got so close to catching them

:55:24. > :55:27.again, but they could not get there and as soon as they hit the city

:55:28. > :55:34.centre web, that was it, they were gone. We have not seen Tom Bishop at

:55:35. > :55:39.the front. That is tactical. He knows they are of the front, Yaz

:55:40. > :55:43.good running legs. He will not want to chase down his team-mates. That

:55:44. > :55:49.will be yet, he will not want to chase them down. They are coming

:55:50. > :55:55.onto the blue carpet. It is one minute and 13 seconds. That is

:55:56. > :56:00.another ten seconds added for the Brownlee brothers during lap five.

:56:01. > :56:08.They are deep into lap six as the chase group make their way clear of

:56:09. > :56:12.transition. They are beginning their sixth lap of seven. You do not think

:56:13. > :56:17.that the brothers need a cushion going into the run, but Alistair is

:56:18. > :56:20.in slightly different territory. He has not raced standard distance, he

:56:21. > :56:27.has been doing half distance, half marathon. It is a different pace.

:56:28. > :56:32.The word from British Triathlon is that Alistair has been throwing in

:56:33. > :56:36.those workouts that he needs. Jonny has been doing his usual workouts

:56:37. > :56:41.and has been training for standard distance. It will be interesting to

:56:42. > :56:47.see how Alistair does run. I am fascinated to see how the changes in

:56:48. > :56:51.his training will affect him. We will not know if the changes in the

:56:52. > :56:56.way that Alistair runs are to do with the way that the has changed

:56:57. > :57:02.training or because he raced a half Ironman last weekend and he did not

:57:03. > :57:08.feel himself. He bonked on the bike. His legs were not there on the run.

:57:09. > :57:12.He might run as he always does and we could see him going off the

:57:13. > :57:18.front. When the athlete hits the wall, bonked. There is nothing left

:57:19. > :57:23.in the legs. Yes, the word out on the course last week in Slovakia. He

:57:24. > :57:28.was saying, my legs have done. I do not know what has happened. We would

:57:29. > :57:32.say that he has bonked. I do not know who came up with that word. It

:57:33. > :57:39.used to mean something very different. In your day. Jonathan

:57:40. > :57:46.Brownlee, the younger of the two, 27, Alistair two years older, 29.

:57:47. > :57:48.They have possibly three or four years of top-level triathlon,

:57:49. > :57:54.depending on which path they wish to follow. Alistair has not ruled out

:57:55. > :57:59.returning to the Olympic fold in Tokyo, going for his third

:58:00. > :58:04.successive Olympic gold medal. He won in London in 2012, he won in Rio

:58:05. > :58:11.last year, and he competed in Beijing in 2008. He was

:58:12. > :58:15.inexperienced and the paid the price for an early break away behind the

:58:16. > :58:20.bike. He learned his lesson and was the winner in London. He added the

:58:21. > :58:26.Rio gold medal. Jonathan took the bronze medal in London, the silver

:58:27. > :58:31.in Rio. He might fancy going to Tokyo in search of the gold medal.

:58:32. > :58:37.There will be two chances for Jonathan, with the mixed relay added

:58:38. > :58:43.to the programme. Tom Bishop moving up to the front. He is a great

:58:44. > :58:46.athlete. They are all in there. Apart from Grant Sheldon, who has

:58:47. > :58:51.not had a great day. He has had a difficult year. Injuries and other

:58:52. > :58:59.things going on. All the British athletes are in the chase pack, with

:59:00. > :59:03.Alistair and Jonny down the road. It is good news. Yes, but we are

:59:04. > :59:09.missing Gordon Benson from the group as well. He missed the split in the

:59:10. > :59:15.swim. He can pick out phenomenal performances. He was second out of

:59:16. > :59:20.the water in your Gassama in 2016. That performance and timber place on

:59:21. > :59:26.the Olympic team. We know he can swim, but he did not have it today.

:59:27. > :59:30.But the guys that are there, we have these two away at the front. Then we

:59:31. > :59:35.have Marc Austin, Tom Bishop and Adam Bowden. They are all in the

:59:36. > :59:39.chase group, tucked in. They are doing the right thing. They will not

:59:40. > :59:42.want to be chasing down their team-mates. There will not be

:59:43. > :59:47.specific instructions on that but it is an unwritten rule that you do not

:59:48. > :59:51.chase down your team-mates. They will be allowing them to do their

:59:52. > :59:55.thing, hopefully looking after themselves, being near the front of

:59:56. > :59:59.the group, but not on the front of the group, that is ideal on a course

:00:00. > :00:05.like this. Hopefully they have looked after themselves, hydrated

:00:06. > :00:09.well, so we can see strong runs from all of the British athletes. They

:00:10. > :00:15.have come past the town hall, they will head for the Civic Colin

:00:16. > :00:17.Millennium Square. It has been a masterclass in synchronised,

:00:18. > :00:25.sustained speed from the Brownlee brothers. They complete lap six.

:00:26. > :00:30.They will take the bell. One more to go. We will get a check on the time

:00:31. > :00:36.difference on wartime. One minute 13 last we looked.

:00:37. > :00:46.We will expect it to be up to a minute and a half, which gives them

:00:47. > :00:55.a serious chance of getting the one two. Just explain what Jonny was

:00:56. > :01:01.doing there, biting off the top of the gel, the packet. Now he will

:01:02. > :01:07.wait for another moment when he can take it on. Yes, he will be fuelling

:01:08. > :01:13.now. He has a hard ten kilometres coming up and he will be wanting to

:01:14. > :01:19.get all of the calories in he can now. And the chase group come past

:01:20. > :01:24.Leeds town hall and approached transition, where they will take the

:01:25. > :01:28.bell. There is more urgency about the group now. This has been lacking

:01:29. > :01:36.for the last 20 minutes but there is more pace. There has been no change

:01:37. > :01:42.between the end of lap five and lap six which means, I imagine, the

:01:43. > :01:53.chase group have ridden faster rather than the Brownlee is turning

:01:54. > :01:57.this screw. They have got themselves working more efficiently again and

:01:58. > :02:00.they are trying to keep the gap down as small as they can. But then

:02:01. > :02:06.sometimes what happens at this point in the race as well, with the clock

:02:07. > :02:10.down to around a kilometre to go, those people take their foot off the

:02:11. > :02:15.gas again because they start thinking about the position in the

:02:16. > :02:21.pack and taking their shoes off. Where is the Brownlees haven't got

:02:22. > :02:27.the worry of looking at the other athletes around them. Yes, Schoeman

:02:28. > :02:32.has been on the front a lot, Blummenfelt, they will be checking

:02:33. > :02:41.each other now and going, actually we are going for a run in a few

:02:42. > :02:47.minutes so going to go easy. Another look at Jonny and his gel which was

:02:48. > :02:52.attached to the handlebars of the bike, identical kit for the brothers

:02:53. > :02:58.today as they start to negotiate the final lap on two wheels. Thoughts

:02:59. > :03:03.will naturally turn towards transition and the 10,000 metre run

:03:04. > :03:10.that awaits. You cannot call it too soon on a course like this, anything

:03:11. > :03:16.can happen. As Fernando Alarza been hurt too much? At the moment he's

:03:17. > :03:20.running phenomenally. He ran as fast as Imola in Yokohama. I think

:03:21. > :03:25.Alistair would like a caution, and Jonny, why not. -- he ran as fast as

:03:26. > :03:40.Mario Mola. Barring any disasters, I think one

:03:41. > :03:44.minute is plenty for them. It will always be hard to know. Jonny has

:03:45. > :03:49.not done a huge amount of racing this year, unfortunately an injury

:03:50. > :03:53.put him out of the races, then he had a setback in Yokohama when he

:03:54. > :03:58.was having to carry his bike after it broke in the crash so he hasn't

:03:59. > :04:05.really got the runs specific fitness either. Alistair again is an unknown

:04:06. > :04:10.quantity right now in the Olympic distance. I don't think his training

:04:11. > :04:14.has changed enough to see massive drop-off in his performance, but I

:04:15. > :04:18.would be interesting to see how they both do. I just don't think one

:04:19. > :04:25.minute 15, if the gap stays at his ears, I don't see anyone from this

:04:26. > :04:31.group running them down. They looked for a moment like they were starting

:04:32. > :04:42.to look around, as I predicted, everyone is going, OK, nearly there.

:04:43. > :04:53.I saw Pierre Le Corre nudging his elbow, but nobody came through. What

:04:54. > :04:56.a performance from the Brownlee brothers since the moment they left

:04:57. > :05:00.the water in Waterloo lake in Roundhay Park. They picked up their

:05:01. > :05:09.bikes and set about controlling their home city race. By the time

:05:10. > :05:14.they got out of the park, they had some French athletes for company,

:05:15. > :05:21.but those two, Aurelien Raphael and Pierre Le Corre couldn't keep up the

:05:22. > :05:24.pace. When the brothers sensed the danger approaching from the chase

:05:25. > :05:28.group behind, they just put their foot to the floor and by the time

:05:29. > :05:34.they got to transition they were six seconds in front. They doubled the

:05:35. > :05:38.lead by the end of the first lap and continued to add thyme, 24 seconds

:05:39. > :05:42.by the end of the second lap, one minute 13 by the end of the