The contracted athletes must fill several requirements
- Rank in the top 20
- Come from different countries, yet several may come from the US. In that regard, it would be really interesting to know which part of the globe follows PTO the most N. America or Europe and how much does the 'rest of the world ' represent. An idea for a poll, is who would you like to be recruited. Or even more who would you care about even though they are foreigners ; I must confess sport is always more intersesting if you have a dog in the fight.
Have different profiles = it may make no sense to ‘PTO draft’ Long if he is not along a couple of weaker swimmer/stronger rider who can ride with him.
Strong media/socials following (sounds like some influencer who has his own sticky thread)
So i draw a list with 3 main groups for the male athletes as i am not so knowledgeable about women racing
A / Front Pack Swimmers / All around athletes racing from the front WTS types
NEUMANN : ***** young athete who by virtue of having won PTO Europe 2023 should be an automatic qualifier. Yet, he only has this one good PTO result and may drop if he does not have a good race in Nice/ has not solved the problem which prevented him from participating in other races in 2023
KANUTE: *** top US performer
BAEKKEGARD ** no great win but always in the mix, being the 2nd danish athlete is one of his few shortcomings
Other candidates /rotating racers :
Royle - good swimmer who pushes the pace but has not really been a factor this year
Van Riel
Blummenfelt : from his inteviews, it sounds like he may be in for the races scheduled after the Olympics
Brownlee : he may be a great wildcard if he is healthy of course
Kyle Smith
B/ Second swim pack :
DITLEV - he is ranked very high and may be one of the faces needed to represent the TPO
WEST - has a great year, his profile (coming from behind) gives an element of drama/threat to the races.
Other candidates /rotating racers
HEEMERYCK** the Asian race put him in the mix, not a star but it sounds weird if Sam Long or Lionel are in and he is out.
MC NAMEE
MARQUARDT young upcoming US athlete
WEAKER SWIMMER
LONG ****
SANDERS *** he has had a couple of ok PTO races which showed he can still be a factor even if only at the back. He needs a decent result in Lathi to stay in the ranking game.
SKIPPER - not a great middle distance, but he is the only british athlete succeeding on longer distances, he has a following and is not a dull, soft spoken athlete
Again putting him along similar profiles make for a good storyline. The race is long enough and can be boring, so to see who is coming back is often more interesting than the front of the race. As many have commented it is one of the things PTO should work on. They did try to be interested in the race for 4 th place in Singapour
Now i will play advocate for the french guys as if 8 to 10 guys are selected only 1 or 2 can be in.
- LAIDLOW** will figure to the front, controversial, english speaking (which is not the forte of many french athletes), could be a cheaper selection as his stock has somewhat declined
- Denis CHEVROT also had a terrific race coming back from 14 out of 15 to 4th. I am convinced that if Matt Hanson had had the same race, it would have made WAY MORE noise whereas Chevrot did not get mentionned even once in the whole thread. PTO did acknowledge that he was one of the top 10 events from the race in their latest video but it could have been a better storyline on the live show.
- MARGIRIER, pretty much like HEEMERICK. I have him as most improved triathlete of the year by a fair margin ( WEST is next but he was not an unknown last year ) and he has had only good results so far. 70.3 World may show that he is the next Supercycliste (my french version of the german Uberbiker) and put him in the top 10
- MIGNON and CHEVALIER have had bad results in their PTO races and like many athletes Nice WC will decide how they stand; They may be seen as reserves/ alternates for some european races. Chevalier had a very poor race in Ibiza but if one of the races is really hilly, he could be a factor. A smart guy who speaks perfect english.
So to sum it up, here are my picks
1 - DITLEV
2 - NEUMANN
3- WEST
4 - LONG
5- KANUTE
6- SANDERS
7- BAEKEGARD
8 - SKIPPER
9 - HEEMERYCK
10 - LAIDLOW
Frodeno, Blum or Iden would be in this list if they agree to be part of the TPO tour
So who would be in your list?
- Rank in the top 20
- Come from different countries, yet several may come from the US. In that regard, it would be really interesting to know which part of the globe follows PTO the most N. America or Europe and how much does the 'rest of the world ' represent. An idea for a poll, is who would you like to be recruited. Or even more who would you care about even though they are foreigners ; I must confess sport is always more intersesting if you have a dog in the fight.
Have different profiles = it may make no sense to ‘PTO draft’ Long if he is not along a couple of weaker swimmer/stronger rider who can ride with him.
Strong media/socials following (sounds like some influencer who has his own sticky thread)
So i draw a list with 3 main groups for the male athletes as i am not so knowledgeable about women racing
A / Front Pack Swimmers / All around athletes racing from the front WTS types
NEUMANN : ***** young athete who by virtue of having won PTO Europe 2023 should be an automatic qualifier. Yet, he only has this one good PTO result and may drop if he does not have a good race in Nice/ has not solved the problem which prevented him from participating in other races in 2023
KANUTE: *** top US performer
BAEKKEGARD ** no great win but always in the mix, being the 2nd danish athlete is one of his few shortcomings
Other candidates /rotating racers :
Royle - good swimmer who pushes the pace but has not really been a factor this year
Van Riel
Blummenfelt : from his inteviews, it sounds like he may be in for the races scheduled after the Olympics
Brownlee : he may be a great wildcard if he is healthy of course
Kyle Smith
B/ Second swim pack :
DITLEV - he is ranked very high and may be one of the faces needed to represent the TPO
WEST - has a great year, his profile (coming from behind) gives an element of drama/threat to the races.
Other candidates /rotating racers
HEEMERYCK** the Asian race put him in the mix, not a star but it sounds weird if Sam Long or Lionel are in and he is out.
MC NAMEE
MARQUARDT young upcoming US athlete
WEAKER SWIMMER
LONG ****
SANDERS *** he has had a couple of ok PTO races which showed he can still be a factor even if only at the back. He needs a decent result in Lathi to stay in the ranking game.
SKIPPER - not a great middle distance, but he is the only british athlete succeeding on longer distances, he has a following and is not a dull, soft spoken athlete
Again putting him along similar profiles make for a good storyline. The race is long enough and can be boring, so to see who is coming back is often more interesting than the front of the race. As many have commented it is one of the things PTO should work on. They did try to be interested in the race for 4 th place in Singapour
Now i will play advocate for the french guys as if 8 to 10 guys are selected only 1 or 2 can be in.
- LAIDLOW** will figure to the front, controversial, english speaking (which is not the forte of many french athletes), could be a cheaper selection as his stock has somewhat declined
- Denis CHEVROT also had a terrific race coming back from 14 out of 15 to 4th. I am convinced that if Matt Hanson had had the same race, it would have made WAY MORE noise whereas Chevrot did not get mentionned even once in the whole thread. PTO did acknowledge that he was one of the top 10 events from the race in their latest video but it could have been a better storyline on the live show.
- MARGIRIER, pretty much like HEEMERICK. I have him as most improved triathlete of the year by a fair margin ( WEST is next but he was not an unknown last year ) and he has had only good results so far. 70.3 World may show that he is the next Supercycliste (my french version of the german Uberbiker) and put him in the top 10
- MIGNON and CHEVALIER have had bad results in their PTO races and like many athletes Nice WC will decide how they stand; They may be seen as reserves/ alternates for some european races. Chevalier had a very poor race in Ibiza but if one of the races is really hilly, he could be a factor. A smart guy who speaks perfect english.
So to sum it up, here are my picks
1 - DITLEV
2 - NEUMANN
3- WEST
4 - LONG
5- KANUTE
6- SANDERS
7- BAEKEGARD
8 - SKIPPER
9 - HEEMERYCK
10 - LAIDLOW
Frodeno, Blum or Iden would be in this list if they agree to be part of the TPO tour
So who would be in your list?