When David Cantero del Cantero spun to spur the crowd, flapping his arms to ask more from them, he still had 5km to run.
The lead group had been whittled down to seven men and included Antonio Serrat Seoane, a WTCS medallist, and Lasse Nygaard Priester, who was fresh off a World Cup medal in Weihai. As one of the youngest men in the field, Cantero could have settled onto the feet of those ahead waited for the attacks to come.
In a sign of his confidence, he whipped up the crowd around him until it grew to a near-frenzy. The ringmaster had set his stage. All he had to do was provide the perfect finishing act.
Despite the best efforts of a handful of athletes to break up the race, it seemed inevitable that the medals would be decided on the run in Valencia.
Márk Dévay had led the swim with Connor Bentley and Kevin Tarek Viñuela Gonzalez the only men within 10 seconds of him. An ill-timed mechanical for Viñuela saw him drop back into the chase pack instantly on the bike, leaving Dévay and Bentley to surge ahead. Even with their pushing, they were soon caught. A pack of fifteen therefore came together at the end of the first lap. Nicola Azzano, Cameron Main and Cantero were part of the fifteen.
In the next group, the likes of Michele Sarzilla, Serrat and Priester worked to wipe away their 16 second deficit. However, the gap had stuck for much of the bike. On the sixth of the eight laps, the packs threatened to merge only for Bentley and Zsombor Dévay to attack and spark the leaders into life.
Eventually the packs merged behind but still Bentley and Dévay stayed clear. They even made it to T2 with a slender advantage.
The lead, though, soon disappeared on the run and a lead group of seven formed.
Alongside Cantero, Priester and Serrat were Sarzilla, Azzano, Main and Jannik Schaufler. For the first half, each seemed content to watch one another and hold something in reserve. As Cantero began to gee up the crowd, Azzano upped the ante and cut Serrat and Schaufler loose.
Sarzilla took over next and Main began to struggle, although he held the gap well enough. Priester and Cantero sat on Sarzilla’s heels and looked at ease.
At the completion of the third lap, the crowd’s level jumped as they saw Cantero in the mix and within moments of passing them the young Spaniard attacked, slicing Azzano from the back of the group. Priester was quickly onto his feet but Cantero went again, this time cutting Sarzilla away.
Again Priester made it back to the Spaniard but Cantero seemed to have a third attack locked and loaded. Priester, however, countered and bolted away. Now on the back foot, Cantero had to rally.
The experience of his German rival seemed to tell as Cantero briefly scrambled. A World Cup winner, Priester knew exactly what it took to get to the line first. But then Cantero was back alongside and threw a counter-punch of his own. Priester saw it coming, though, and swiftly marked it.
As the finish line came into view, the pair were locked together. Cantero led onto the blue carpet as the fans he had previously urged on repaid the favour. Surrounded by screams of support, Cantero rounded the final corner but Priester hugged tighter to the apex and got inside the Spaniard.
Both charged for the finish line and Cantero looked for Priester. At the very last, he found the smallest gap over the German and lunged for the line, crossing in 1st place.
Priester crossed 1 second late, defeated by Cantero’s irrepressible burst. Having raced in China only a week prior, Priester’s strength to hold on was admirable and he made it two World Cup medals in two weekends.
Yet Valencia belonged to the greatest showman. At the start of the year, Cantero had been flagged as a man to watch after ageing up from the Junior ranks. His running has always been a threat but now he clearly has the endurance to put a race together over the Olympic distance. More than anything, he evidently has the flair to stand him in good stead.
Sarzilla was the next man home to take the bronze medal, the first of his World Cup career. Azzano and Main then rounded out the top-5.
You can view the full results here.
