Alan Webb 3.5 hours from first world cup (abu dhabi) start, listen free online

Race starts in less than 20 minutes

also.

Can follow #wtsabudhabi for more updates.

Webb's swimming form looks pretty good on his twitter picture. His swim will definitely need to be better than it was in 2014, to be in the main chase pack on the bike leg... We'll know soon enough. Of course, this is a sprint event, so it's tougher to lose so many seconds as to not catch the back of the main chase pack.

Run off the beach start.

I wonder if that was better or worse for Webb. It's a pretty technical start.

59th out of T1, with 4 second gap behind 58th... It could be game over... Let's hope that he gets lucky and catches up...

No such luck. He's now riding alone in 59th place. 2 guys in front of him by about 9 seconds. Then the second chase pack already too far ahead of them...

there was one guy out of T1 after him. maybe they can work together but with 20k bike only, the pack will be unrelenting fast the entire way. if they can't bridge up together in the first 3k, its over.

lets see if he made on to a larger group... they are giving splits every 5k of the bike today. multi loop course.

game over after only 5k riding. off the back, riding alone alone. closest 2 guys are 12 seconds up the road but working together, alan can't solo across gaps yet at this level. few can. back to the pool to get insanely better.

His swim is still too weak to compete at this level. After 5k he's now 60th, about 13 seconds back of the 2 guys ahead of him and 1:35 behinds the big group of leaders...

It's sad to see really...

The guy in last is now catching up to Webb. I'm guessing that they will ride it in together...

The South African did indeed catch up to Webb.

...and when riding together, they cought up to the 2 guys ahead of them...

You'd like to think he could make up a little ground in the run...

I know he is probably knackered but...

alan is an emotional racer and tris offer lots of time during a race to dwell on your currently bad day. been there many a time. not like a 4 min mile and then done. I will be stoked if he keeps his lid on and run 15:20 - 15:30. anything slower means he just bagged the day. my feeling is, because he hasn't dropped out, he will blast the run. and hes not in last anymore.

Plus lets not forget its his first proper attempt.

T2 00:42:15

finish time was 00:57:19

so looks like his run split was 15:04, which means nothing off a standardized track, until you compare it to the competition.

not bad. winner was 14:03 and an absolute greyhound. he ran hard which is great to see.

if he'd had been with the big pack, his 15:04 would net him somewhere between 10th and 15th place.

he is racing the next two weekend, internationally. lets see how he gets his head together.

in Mooloolaba, Australia on March 14

and New Plymouth, New Zealand, on March 22.

also, there may have been an issue with the swim today. lost goggles, ounch or kick that dropped him momentarily. he is much better than lukas V. who was genuinely not a swimmer. web had near junior nat. cuts in the pool back in his hs days. he is no chopped liver.. there may be something that happened during the swim today. stay tuned.

Alan, if you are reading this. way to hang in there dood and rip a nice 5k off an otherwise tough day. winners never quit, and quitters never win. we are behind you!! USA Tri!

results are up:

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2015_itu_world_triathlon_abu_dhabi/270293