The emission-free car will take the athletes at all three events, as well as providing environmentally-friendly transportation for dignitaries and delegates in the cities.

"Triathlon is a rapidly-growing Olympic sport," said Opel chief executive officer Karl-Thomas Neumann.

"It requires serious ambition, absolute perfection and enormous versatility - values that our Ampera also ideally represents.

"So we are delighted to be the only automaker to exclusively support the ITU World Triathlon Series in Europe with our emission-free electric vehicle."

Britain's Jonathan Brownlee is one of the athletes that will line-up in
London looking to take the title

The Ampera can cover between 40 kilometres and 80 kilometres purely powered by electricity before the range-extender concept takes over and enables a driving range of up to 500 kilometres without a petrol stop.

"The Opel/Vauxhall Ampera delivers power and endurance in a sustainable format, which reflect triathlon's core components, as well as key values for ITU," ITU President and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Marisol Casado
said.

"We are delighted to partner with a company that shares our same message."

More than 800,000 spectators are expected to cheer on both the amateur participants and elite athletes in the remaining races, where the elite athletes will compete for vital points which will go a long way towards deciding the 2013 World Championship title, which will be contested on the iconic Olympic course in London's HydePark on September 11-15.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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