Rappstar wrote:
The reason, I believe, that you are seeing so many more fast performances is that guys are able to ride really fast on LESS power, not more. Rather than the "uber-biker," we have the "techno-biker." And as more and more athletes fall into this category, the benefit of being in a big group grows. The name of the game is - now - "who can whisper the loudest." Meaning, who can get to T2 as quickly as possibly on the fewest number of watts. Because with big groups - and more athletes being more slippery (and, especially, with virtually all of the championship venues being relatively fast courses) - the benefit on the clock of outriding someone is just not there. Whereas 10-15w used to translate into 5min+ leads, now it might net you a minute. If that.
In many races, plenty of guys outride guys who put out way more power thanks to the dynamics of the race.
As I watched the race unfold at four in the morning Saturday night (don't ask), I was thinking how brilliant it was of Cameron Wurf to burn a match or two to get in the lead bike position to catch the moto benefit. For better or for worse, they were joined at his hip for 100 miles or so. Ben was 2-3 minutes back and I wondered just how much free speed he was losing from the draft. Anyway, Cameron ran a 3:11:44 so he ended up not being a factor. Do you think it would it have benefitted the Hoff to make it to the front?
Rappstar wrote:
As I said, the debate about whether or not this SHOULD be the case is another matter. All that matters, really, is that it is the case. And Ben figured this out. And has been able to adapt himself to suit it. Ben knows that fast swim + moderate effort ride + fast run is the most likely way to have success, especially in Kona.-------------------
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