Jonathan Brownlee's first race of the 2018 World Triathlon Series was marred by a crash during the bike leg as he eventually had to settle for seventh place in Abu Dhabi, where Henri Schoeman produced a stunning performance to take victory.
Brownlee was part of a strong lead group out of the water and he was well set going into the 20km bike section on the Yas Marina Circuit, although a steady downpour of rain made the track very slippery and it was Brownlee who was one of the first of several athletes to hit the deck on the first lap of five, losing nine seconds on the leaders in the process. No sooner had the Italian Alessandro Fabian taken up the lead when he also crashed and it was Henri Schoeman who decided that the best way of avoiding trouble was to press ahead.
Schoeman, who opened his season with a runner-up effort at the ITU Triathlon World Cup in February, had endured a tough 2017 campaign but he forged an imperious lead on the chasing pack and he boasted a 22 second-lead over Mario Mola going into the final run leg.
However, the two-time ITU World Champion, Mola, wasn't going to go away without a challenge as he produced a barnstorming effort to eventually take second place, finishing just six seconds adrift of Schoeman. It was some effort from Mola considering he was 30 seconds off the leading pace after the swim but Schoeman was a worthy winner in the end and he wrote his name into the history books with an impressive victory in a time of 57:04.
The South African became only the second man to lead out of the swim, off the bike and win an ITU race since Alistair Brownlee achieved the feat in Kitzbuhel in 2011. The winner in Abu Dhabi was congratulated by Mola before Vincent Luis, the Rotterdam Grand Final winner in September, came third and a rueful-looking Brownlee, sporting a cut knee, followed home in seventh place.
