Jake Birtwhistle has claimed his second World Triathlon Series win in a month.
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Having finally broken through for his maiden win in the English city of Leeds last month, the Launceston 24-year-old doubled up in Hamburg.
Just a few weeks out from the pivotal Tokyo 2020 test event, Birtwhistle won a thrilling finish featuring many of his regular training partners.
The proximity to the Olympic date was not lost on the delighted winner, who controversially missed selection to Rio in 2016.
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"It's a huge confidence boost I've been able to back up the win in Leeds," he said.
"I guess hopefully that means I will be here to stay and hopefully to the Olympics and I plan to do something similar there."
In what came down to an exhilarating sprint finish against France's Vincent Luis, Birtwhistle proved that he can hang with the best of them.
Narrowly avoiding a horrific bike crash which took down race leaders Jonathan Brownlee (GBR), Fernando Alarza (ESP), Dorian Coninx (FRA) and Henri Schoeman (RSA), Birtwhistle headed out onto the run in fifth.
After five kilometres of cat and mouse, Birtwhistle, Luis, Mario Mola (ESP), Hayden Wilde (NZL), Jelle Geens (BEL) and Leo Bergere (FRA) took turns to attempt to make their break.
With the finish nearly in sight, Luis struck, forcing Birtwhistle to respond and lead home the sprint.
"Today was just one of those awesome races," he said. "Obviously it was a bit sketchy with the wet roads, and I'm not exactly sure what happened out there but it didn't look good, and I'm thinking about, I think it was [Andreas] Schilling (DEN) that went down, so I hope he's okay.
It was almost like a training session for us guys out the front there
- Jake Birtwhistle
"Once we got onto that run and you knew we were all safe from there, it was almost like a training session for us guys out the front there.
"[I'm] really happy to come away with the win. I thought I had a little bit left in the tank when Vince went past me, I knew I just had to stick with him until that last 100m or so, and thankfully just managed to get over the top of him."
The win makes Birtwhistle the only male to secure multiple WTS titles this season.
He is also set for a key role as Australia attempts to reclaim its mixed team relay world championships on Sunday in Hamburg.
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