All the top pros at IM France were on road bikes. Realistically there is barely 30K where the diff between the tri and road bike matter. On the rest of the course, the road bike will be superior. First of all, the climbing will be nicer, but most importantly at IM France you can lose a TON of time braking on the descents with switchbacks on blind corners. By the way, I did it on my Kestrel Airfoil Pro with Stinger 60 front tubular and Zipp 808 Rear Tubular. I'm very good on technical switchback roads as I have a lot of experience riding in the Alps and other technically difficult terrain. Even then, at times, I felt that I was on the edge of my expertise to keep the rubber side down. I was taking risks and passing a lot of guys, because I knew this is where I needed to make up time if I wanted to be anywhere near the front of my age group. It worked, but this strategy may not be right for everyone. There is just too much weight on the front wheel, and basically on a technical switchback, it is hard to quickly get the back wheel "under you" by steering the bike with your legs and "pointing your core at the next gate" like a slalom skier.
The shallow head tube angle of the tri bike also makes steering in and out of switchbacks like riding a Harley. Fortunately my AirFoil pro has a 73 head tube angle, but on a 72 head tube angle tri bike....watch out. If you insist on a tri bike, I'd get a short stem put on the bike and also raide the bars, both mainly for control than anything else.
Also one of the reasons I chose my tri bike was so that I could ride with a powermeter as I have an SRM on my tri bike, but quite frankly, I don't think the powermeter makes any difference on this course (by the way, Marcel Zamora, Fredrick Van Lierde and Tine Deckers did not ride with powermeters). The reason I say powermeters are not needed, is that it is almost impossible to spike your power 15x1 min @ 110 FTP like you might do on a rolling course. On a 20, 8 or 5K climb, your power is going to end up being very very steady.
Also, bike temps were in the range of 30-34C, and I was worried that if I was braking too much I'd overheat my rims, so I took every opportunity to minimize braking. It would have been nicer to get clinchers, however, I was too lazy to change my wheel setup. I just had too much going on before race day.
A few things to remember
- If the turn is on a blind corner and going into it, there is a volunteer waving a yellow flag that means BRAKE
- If there is no volunteer with the flag, you can likely let it rip (depending on your descending skills)
- Pavement is silky smooth, which lifts the confidence factor knowing you will have good stuff to ride on coming out of blind corners
- 70K into the race, you're likely at the halfway point from a time pespective. Do not let the slow progress demoralize you
- It is very difficult to take in nutrition on the downhill sections. You need to take in nutrition going uphill. You need full control of the bike on the downhills. You don't want to fall off a 1500 ft cliff while mucking around with your Cliff bar...
- Sun is brutal at the higher elevations as others pointed out. Make sure you use a ton of sunscreen before the race and also at T2. I left T2 with an entire bottle, poured it on my head and gradually worked it in as I ran. Sounds bad, but it worked.
- The run as ZERO shade. It was 36C on the Promenade des Anglais last year. The pools water that formed around aid stations were like running through hot water. There may be zero wind to cool you off. Just be mentally ready for this. The run at Nice SEEMED a lot hotter than Kona.
Finallly Nice is not "about the race" only. When you get to Nice, there is a ton of other things going on, and there is excellent riding nearby. Yes you can stay trapped in your room tapering, or you can hit some really nice rides
Eze Village from just past the famed Col d'Eze that Irishman Sean Kelly made famous with one of many Paris Nice victories
Heading up to the Col d'Eze
Baie des Anges, with bike still all dressed up from the big dance. You will swim here and the run course is 4x out and back from just near my bike to the airport. The Promenade des Anglais was made famous to us in the tri world by Mark Allens 10 wins at Nice. You will run there.
A detour to Monaco to check out the Formula 1 track and also have some ice cream and espresso...perfect taper food
Enjoy. This is not just "any race". Ironman France is waaaaaaay better than Kona from a racing and vacation experience....best of all, it is not sold out yet!