Kent Richardson snatched defeat from the jaws of a possible victory in yesterday's Bank of Bermuda Team Triathlon.

Leading by almost two minutes at the end of the regulation six laps on the bike, the national team cyclist just kept on going.

Seemingly losing track of how many circuits he had completed, he powered off on an extra one for good measure.

The faux pas, which he was able to look back on with trademark good humour, put paid to Steve Kenny's efforts in the swim and left runner Mark Albuoy with a mountain to climb. Having thought he would be leading the race, Albuoy found himself way down the field, with the team of Matthew Herring, Karl Outerbridge and Colin Swan taking over.

However, that trio were not able to taste the glory either with Tracy Wright overhauling Swan down the home stretch to the joy of his team-mates Andrew Davis and Jamie Pedro.

For Davis and Pedro the triumph made up for last week's individual triathlon when the former had to settle for third behind Herring and Richardson and the latter pulled out halfway through because of illness.

But the talk at the finish line afterwards was all about Richardson and the rider himself was more than happy to have a few laughs at his own expense.

"I can't count!' he said. "Steve had a great swim and we had a little talk before on the dock and I said I was just going to go out 120 percent, not even bother looking, just put my head down and ride hard.

"I just got into that whole groove. Karl did well to stay with me for the first couple of laps - I was like 'Man, I am going to have to ride hard'.

"I finally started pulling away from him and I was thinking things are going well and it is going to be such a great workout for (next weekend's) Caribbean Cycling Championships.

"Next thing you know I've just blown right through."

As the onus is on the competitor and not the organisers to count the laps, Richardson was oblivious to his error for a while.

"I realised when I came back in and this girl was right behind me," he said. "I thought 'Oh my God! She must have had a great ride!'

"Even when I tagged Mark and he said 'Kent don't worry about it' it still didn't click. Then I realised and I was like 'OK, I definitely blew it here'."

Richardson said he had been forgiven by his team-mates.

"They say how you win shows one thing, but how you lose reveals your true character," he said.

Albuoy said he perhaps should have shouted to Richardson as he waited in the transition area."I probably should have been there to let him know but I thought he had another lap to do myself," he said, before adding. "We finished and that's the main thing."

Looking ahead to this weekend's event in Curacao, Richardson revealed he would be taking one extra piece of equipment.

"I will have an abacus," he declared.

Despite their rivals' gaffe Pedro, Davis and Wright were made to work hard for their win.

After an excellent swim from the still recovering Pedro, Davis kept his team in contention on the bike and Wright wore down long-time leader Swan to cross the finish line in an unofficial time of one hour, 34 minutes and 32 seconds. Herring, Outerbridge and Swan clocked 1:34.46.

Pedro's part in the triumph was all the better given his lack of proper preparation beforehand.

"I was sick until Thursday and so I didn't have time to put in as much swimming as I would have liked to," he said. "I gave Andrew a bit more of a deficit than I thought.

"But there was no way I was going to drop out. I would have swam if I was still sick and then whatever happened happened. It was a good swim. I was comfortable on the first lap but started feeling it on the second."

Davis said the keyword in his ride was damage limitation.

"Most of the cyclists at the top were national team cyclists," said Davis. "I was just trying to minimise any time they were going to put on us.

"I just wanted to try and put Tracy in the same position that I was in when Jamie came out of the water, then let him go with it and see what he could do."

What he did was keep tabs on Swan before stepping on the gas and leaving him in his wake.

But Wright said he was not confident beforehand he could reel in the leader.

"When he left I thought to myself 'That's a big gap'," he said. "At the turnaround point he was halfway up and I was halfway down and I was like 'Oh man. I've got a lot of work to do'."Wright edged closer and closer over the closing stages.

"In the last two laps I saw I was getting closer but even on the last one I wasn't sure I was going to catch him because I had already done a lot of work just trying to get into the position I was in," he said.

"But when he saw I was right behind him I think he gave in a little bit and that was good for me and made it that much easier to get by him."

Swan, who is preparing for the New York City Marathon, said he had been focused on catching Albuoy until Richardson's little incident.

"We figured that if Kent was out in front the most I could give Mark was about a minute," said Swan. "But when I saw Kent make the turn and do another lap I said 'That's his last lap!' But he continued round and I said 'Well that's racing' and so when Karl came I just said thank you.

"My goal now was just to keep Tracy back. The first two laps I went out to try and make him run a little harder at the beginning but he fought to the end and with half a lap left to go he had a lot more (left) than me."

Runner Riann Naude, cyclist Jason Krupp and swimmer Mike Cash came in third unofficially in 1:35.59.

The first female team came in next, swimmer Belinda Castree, cyclist Melanie Claude and runner Anna Eatherley crossing the line in 1:38.32.

Juniors Coyatito Smith, Khamari Greaves and Dominique Nanette gave their peers something to think about with their fifth place finish.

After coming third and second in their division in the previous two years, the trio, first juniors overall, say they are not going to stop now they have reached the summit.

"We are going to beat the adults next year!" they predicted.