Triathlon: Kiwi Hewitt second in New Plymouth

American Katie Hursey has won the Port Taranaki ITU New Plymouth World Cup Triathlon today, ahead of Kiwi Andrea Hewitt (pictured) and Brit Jodie Stimpson. Photo / Getty Images.

New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt showed some good early-season form in finishing second at the ITU World Cup race in New Plymouth this afternoon.

The world No 5 outsprinted Great Britain's Jodie Stimpson to claim silver but was 10 seconds behind winner Katie Hursey, with the American backing up from her runner-up finish in Mooloolaba last week.

"That was a huge step up from last week,'' Hewitt said. "I think it was good to have the hit-out in Australia because here was just so hard but it was all good, second place is great. Last year Jodie was stronger than me and was on the podium a lot last year so for me to be running comfortably with her and outsprint her it is a nice feeling.

Wanaka's Nicky Samuels was among the leaders on the swim and finished strongly to secure sixth in her first race of her international season.

Fellow Kiwi Kate McIlroy was aggressive on the bike but her lack of running recently saw her drop back to finish 11th in the 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.

It was a Spanish benefit in the men's race with Mario Mola edging world No 1 Javier Gomez by two seconds with Portugal's Joao Silva. Another Spaniard, Fernando Alarza, was fourth. It was the first time Gomez had been beaten in New Zealand since his first race here 11 years ago.

Ryan Sissons was the best of the Kiwis in sixth in the strong men's field in what was a good hit-out before the first World Series event for the year in Auckland in a fortnight when all the top triathletes will be in attendance.

"It was always going to be hard,: said Sissons, who was competing in his first major event for the year. "The swim wasn't the best for me and I got dealt to but I still managed to be there or thereabouts and I rode really hard for the first 3km or 4km and was on the front pack. After that it was a case of staying out of trouble with a few crashes and a few idiots on the bike with a few weird manoeuvres.

"I knew I had some good run legs and I moved into it and ran through quite a few of the others in that final lap. I caught up to the group with [David] Haus and [Laurent] Vidal and thought I might just sit but I pushed on to test the legs a bit. This was a perfect opportunity to do that and I felt good, probably could have kept going for another 5km, so that was extremely pleasing.''

Tony Dodds was riding strongly in the lead group with Sissons when he was caught up in a crash that forced him out of the race. Dodds was nursing a sore elbow and a few grazes but was hopeful it wouldn't prevent him racing in Auckland in a fortnight.