Brasilia was the race that refused to be decided. At every step of the way in the men’s race, an athlete would step up to take control of proceedings only for someone else to pop up on their shoulder and take over.
Although the group of potential winners remained small over the Olympic distance event, the race kept the identity of its winner well-hidden until the very last minutes.
Charles Paquet got off to a good start in the swim and earned an early lead. Amid a strong crosswind, conditions were quite wavy which did not make for the easiest of efforts. Fighting the waves, at one point four men swam abreast at the front in search of the best line. One of those men was Alessio Crociani and the Italian athlete took over the lead as the field turned for home in the long single lap of 1500m.
Having built into the swim, Crociani led out of the water. He was followed by Miguel Hidalgo who in turn had quite a large group of men close behind.
A stumble for Hidalgo in T1 nearly proved costly. He had tried to pull his bike out from the rack however it was stuck. When it did not budge he fell and lost valuable seconds.
As Hidalgo’s hopes of swooping to a home gold medal seemed in jeopardy, Crociani sped away with three Austrian athletes for company. Tjebbe Kaindl, Alois Knabl and Martin Demuth worked with the Italian athlete as they tried to fight off the chase pack over the first lap. In the winds, they sheltered behind one another and kept the tempo high.
Gradually, though, they were caught. Fourteen men therefore sat together at the front. Fortunately for the home fans, Hidalgo had made it into the pack, as had WTCS medallist Manoel Messias.
The Austrian trio continued to press the matter at the front of the pack. Soon after, Crociani made a dart away although his effort was marked.
Later on, it was the turn of Paquet and Crisanto Grajales, the winner of the Weihai World Cup in August. The Canadian and Mexican pair established a solid lead and for a spell it looked as if the move was about to pay off. Yet as the last lap got underway, Hidalgo and Messias had almost completely closed the gap.
The leaders were thus soon back together and the pace slowed as the group took a chance to rehydrate ahead of the run.
If the pace had dawdled somewhat towards the end of the bike, the story could not have been more different at the start of the run. Hidalgo had a much better transition than his earlier effort and led Antonio Serrat Seoane and Grajales onto the 10km course.
Sergio Baxter Cabrera was also in contention while Paquet and Messias sought to make up ground.
Over the first of the three laps, a distinct front trio emerged. Hidalgo, Paquet and Serrat shared the lead yet could not quite shake one another off.
A sudden surge from Serrat cut Paquet loose. However, Hidalgo was equal to his Spanish rival. The leading duo continued to fight it out as the kilometres ticked by and then Serrat went again.
This time, he carved a noticeable gap to Hidalgo. The Brazilian hovered about 5m back and strained to hold on. Scenting the gold medal, Serrat pushed harder, intent upon burying his rival.
Once again, though, Brasilia had another twist to come. Just as Serrat looked to have sealed the win, Hidalgo unleashed his counter-punch. Timing his move at a similar moment to Alice Betto in the women’s race, Hidalgo was suddenly alongside Serrat and then blasted away.
Unlike all the other mini-breaks and moves that had come before, this was as final as it was devastating. Serrat simply could not hold on and Hidalgo sped clear. Throughout the rest of an awesome last lap, his lead grew with every stride and by the finish line it stood at 26 seconds.
Barely 5 minutes earlier, the race had seemed lost to Hidalgo yet he had the presence of mind to hold on and deliver an extraordinary finish. It was a perfect way to take his first World Cup gold medal and it will have been made all the more satisfying to have done it in his home country.
Serrat came through next to claim the silver medal while Paquet earned a first World Cup medal in 3rd place. Grajales followed next and then Jason West overhauled Messias to round out the top-5.
You can view the full results here.
