Flora Duffy finished 27th on Saturday in the fourth race of the World Triathlon Series in Cape Town.

The event was held in windy conditions which forced the 1,500 metres swim to be shortened to 750 metres which did not work in Duffy’s favour as the field was not as spread out going into the 40-kilometre bike ride.

Duffy, however, tried hard to get away on the bike, taking American Katie Zaferes, ranked second in the world, and Helen Jenkins of England with her as they opened up an 11-second gap early on.

However, Olympic champion Nicola Spirig from Switzerland, a very strong cyclist, pulled a large chasing group back to the three leaders and despite Duffy’s best efforts, a group of more than 20 riders was soon challenging as they started the ten-kilometre run together.

Duffy’s efforts on the bike, and perhaps her heavy WTS and Xterra race schedule, took its toll on her as she soon dropped off a strong pace on the flat run.

In the end she faded to 27th, some 3½ minutes off the eventual winner, Vicky Holland of England, who broke away from a group of ten to win from the consistent Katie Zaferes and Spirig.

After the latest race in the series, Duffy dropped from fifth to sixth in the WTS world rankings with Zaferes taking over top spot with another podium finish after Gwen Jorgensen of the USA, who won the first three races in the series, decided to sit the race out.