Alistair Brownlee is hoping home advantage will pay dividends at this weekend’s World Series Triathlon race in Leeds.
The defending Olympic champion has not recorded a win on the world circuit this season and victory would be a major boost in his final preparations for Rio de Janeiro.
Brownlee will race alongside brother Jonny and Gordon Benson, his Team GB team-mates, while Rio bound Non Stanford, Helen Jenkins and Vicky Holland all compete in the women’s race.
“Racing in your home town is a great opportunity and this is a very important stepping stone in the lead up to the Olympics,” he said.
“It comes at a very good time for us, you obviously want to be there and have a good race and be competitive and be at about 95 per cent, but obviously the Olympics is 100 per cent.
“There is a bit of extra pressure on my shoulders because it's a big deal for the city but like any race, you want to go there to win it and any World Series race is a very big deal.
“It would be nice to have hot conditions like to mirror what it will be like in Rio but I’m caught between two things.
"I prefer racing in cooler conditions but the thing that is going to make Leeds’ event is the crowd coming out on the day. If the weather wasn’t good I’d be a bit upset with the crowds not being as big as they could be.
“It makes me very proud to be part of the driving force making triathlon more and more successful. Ten years ago no one knew what triathlon was and now all of a sudden people know someone who has done one, then they want to have to a go and so on.”
The Brownlee brothers have not raced in a major competition in two years, when they finished first and second at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
And this weekend will also see them take on Olympic silver medallist Javier Gomez.
“Jonny and I have raced together on and off but this is certainly the most significant race for a while," added Brownlee.
“The Olympics is now the horizon but I’ve got to focus on this race first. No-one has defended an Olympic title and things do seem easier first time around.
“However, Rio should suit us better and we should be able to go out and have a better race there but you never know until the day.”
Sportsbeat 2016