Back in the old days, there were a bunch of races like you suggest. There were not as many close athletes racing as an ITU race today, but enough. Here is a race where the bike was last. Like i said, it doesn't matter the order, distance ratios, or if there is drafting or not. The good guys will rise to the top. IF ITU were as you suggest, it would just bring up everyones run game, just like it did for the swimmers under the current format. Great athletes adapt, and in spite of what you think might happen, there would be bigs groups of riders sprinting for the wins, instead of runners. Some names would change, but it would still be the same dynamic..

Perhaps I am not seeing something right after watching only 2 events. Does anyone else see it differently, particularly anyone who has competed in a draft legal Olympic triathlon?

I like the ITU format, but I would like to see an early breakaway work every now and then, like what Andy Potts does semi-regularly in 70.3. I don't think I've seen one recently, which leads me to believe the guys up front in ITU are just that good.

I see what you're saying, but I think that if you dropped a lot of these ITU guys into a non drafting race they would be right at the top. In fact I'm willing to put money on it that the Brownlee brothers could win any non drafting Olympic distance race against anyone.

Train with two guys who race/raced WTS races.

They are exceptional swimmers, very strong cyclists and otherworldly runners!!

I think the problem is to viewers, especially the majority who have never raced draft-legal, is that it seems to formulaic. Swim hard, make the front pack, stay there whilst conserving as much energy as possible and then run a low 30min run. In IM there are many more variables in terms of time, tactics etc.

Watching a race live and then seeing it on TV are completely different experiences, these guys HAMMER the bike, the TV doesn't do that justice. They are holding (well Laurent Vidal posted his numbers after Madrid) an avg of 280 watts (he is 65kgs) but had over 30! 500+ watt spikes. This type of riding is more interval based, getting the power and HR and then dipping down again, there is NO pacing, just hang on. Non-drafting is more about riding to ones own watts, keeping it constant with less focus on technical profficiency.

Summation: they are two different types of racing, yet in both the best triathlete wins.

I'd encourage you to try one if you can, they are really good fun and bloody hard!!

Have you raced a crit before? Better yet, have you raced a crit with 6 180 turns on each lap? That's about the typical ITU race course. Lots of slow turns. And tons of accelerations, especially if you're at the back of a group of 50 guys and the yo-yoing out of each corner happens.
If the group is together is there a big incentive to hammer down the road?
The few ITU races I had my power meter on for (two of them were World Cups), were all average of 275 watts and max of 1,000.

You're thinking in the aero long course, I base everything off of my speed and power mentality. This is a completely different type of race.

I raced Cat. 3 on the road, and ITU races are MUCH, MUCH harder. Just going by average speed is not a good indicator of effort.

The problem I see with ITU style of racing is, it's very hard to "see" the effort on the bike watching it on the tv/internet. /quote]

Joe Sixpack doesn't care about the effort. He can't image the effort anyway. He cares about excitement.

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Formerly known as Chipmunk

Hell, I've said by 2016 I think there is going to be over 20 draft legal races for the avg. AG'er to compete in.

Honestly, I dont know that anyone is going to get excited from ITU racing, if your looking for "excitement".

The only thing the ITU format has going is watchability. Well, there's this race called the Stillwater Criterium in Minnesota that's part of a small stage race. The criterium is around a 1 or two mile loop which goes up a hill that hits 24% grade at max. Oh, and if you get lapped, you're out. You want some excitement? Have a swim breakaway and a biker breakaway who can start eliminating competitors by lapping them on that hellacious criterium. See the struggle on the riders, up close and personal, as they do the climb over and over and over. Watch the super fast technical descent on the backside.

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Any way they could make it a 5k loop instead of a 1 or 2 mile loop? 1 mile loop is completely out of the question for ITU racing. What kind of body of water is right on the looped course? Is there even a large enough body of water to do a swim in or is this just a cool fantasy type of race?

You certainly dont want a field of 65 men start list and it whittles down to 13 guys finishing. That's just not a good product for the fans.