Brazil's Igor Amorelli was near or at the front of the race throughout the entire swim and bike legs in Ecuador. A late push in the closing k's of the bike rewarded Amorelli a minute gap to Aussie Tim Rea.
Once on the run, Amorelli appeared to have the race in control. Rea managed to match the leaders pace for the first half of the run, however Amorelli opened the gap to over three minutes to claim the win.
How much difference a year has made for Amorelli. Last year at this time he was returning from surgery and had to race two summer IRONMAN races in order to earn starting spot in Kona. This year, with a solid placing in the Kona Pro Rankings, he has been able head into his Kona build-up in much better shape.
In the women's race, Lauren Brandon (USA) put on a clinic on the swim and run in her wire-to-wire win in Manta. The American started the run with a race-leading gap of eight minutes and was untouchable on the run, leaving the remainder of the field to fight it out for second and third.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Amorelli, Igor BRA 3:52:30
2 Rea, Tim AUS 3:55:36
3 Matthews, Paul AUS 4:00:09
4 Portmann, Kevin FRA 4:04:23
5 Giovanny, Ruiz CHL 4:16:35
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Brandon, Lauren USA 4:22:52
2 Wassner, Laurel USA 4:30:17
3 Withrow, Kelsey USA 4:41:14
4 Tastets, Pamela CHL 4:45:46
5 Valentine, Nicole USA 5:22:12