45.31 for the first swimmer (Rafael Goncalves Brazil). That's the swim benchmark. Brent was 3rd out ~3 min back

Thought I just heard that Sanders was out of the water in that big pack...if so, looks like a really good swim for him.

53.45 for LIonel, ~ 5 min back from Brent and 4 min from TJ and Pete Jacobs. I am hoping that TJ and Lionel can tag team at some point in the future today and help each other.

53:45 for Sanders...not bad. Looks like a fast swim today for a lot of guys, but only 5 mins back of Brent and 6+ from Chabrot. Game on boys.

The big pack was at 49, that Rafael dude must have blown up the lead swimmers. Looks like 12 guys in that group with 3 more off the front. Lionel came out in high 53, so 8 minutes off the leader, but only 4 off of those 15 guys. Gonna be a tough day again for him, but he will have lots and lots of little goals in front of him to catch, once the main group begins to break a bit..

It looks like Lionel proportionally lost a bit "less" to Brent compared to 70.3 World's however, I would think there are more "lesser swimmers" for him to have company in a non championship race. In championship race, he gets very few to draft in the swim and ends up pulling his own water (largely). My guess is that its not like his swim or tactics got better in 2 months, it's just who else is around him. That's a problem he'll need to resolve for the championship events.

Also on loop 3 of the bike they are lapping age groupers, so the pros have some slingshot benefit and if your legs are doing well, you can really take advantage of those small breaks in wind resistance. Maybe Jordan can comment on what impact that has on the leaders and chasers.

It looks like Lionel proportionally lost a bit "less" to Brent compared to 70.3 World's however, I would think there are more "lesser swimmers" for him to have company in a non championship race//

Two things, this is of course a wetsuit swim which helps Lionel proportionally more than the other men pros, and the field is quite deep for a non championship race. There were some well defined swim packs, and Lionel was right in the 3rd group out. In fact either he led that group, or there was a longish run where he ran past everyone, as it shows him with the fastest split among them. So he definitely got to swim with some dudes he usually doesn't get to, so I would say there was some improvement in his swim since Hawaii. Probably not in speed, but in OW tactics I would guess.

How's the weather looking?

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"I would definitely smell her seat after a century ride"

At least there's not a train grouped together ahead of Lionel although Brent seems to have chosen a stud to follow.

TOP 20 Pro Men - Thru Bike Split 2 - 19 mi

1 1:38:28 Cameron Wurf
2 1:39:35 1:07 Tj Tollakson
3 1:39:54 1:26 Giulio Molinari
4 1:40:09 1:41 Philip Graves
5 1:40:10 1:42 Brent McMahon
6 1:40:40 2:12 Joe Gambles
7 1:40:43 2:15 Per Bittner
8 1:41:36 3:08 Rafael Goncalves
9 1:43:42 5:14 Lionel Sanders
10 1:45:31 7:03 Jordan Bryden
11 1:45:35 7:07 Adam O'Meara
12 1:45:37 7:09 Jose Estrangeiro
13 1:46:21 7:53 Pedro Gomes
14 1:46:23 7:55 David Plese
15 1:47:03 8:35 Vinicio Ibarra
16 1:47:23 8:56 Pete Jacobs
17 1:47:36 9:08 Tripp Hipple
18 1:47:44 9:16 Thomas Gerlach
19 1:47:55 9:27 Jesse Vondracek
20 1:48:00 9:33 Chad Holderbaum

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Holy crap, nice to see local boy Adam Omeara in the mix! Haven't seen his name in a long time. Before he went pro he was my run coach at a few running clinics, really nice guy.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

It is cloudy which will keep the heat down. Could be some rain later in the day. High will be around 75. 61 and not a breath of wind at my house. Humidity is higher than normal.

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Andrew Inkpen

Lionel did not make it to bike check #4 at 38mi?

Gone right out of the top 20?

They did show a picture of him going through so perhaps a chip non-read?

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Looks like his chip was read at mile 47.

Hard to tell if he is gaining ground.

If my quick head math is correct he's only 1:41 behind Brent McMahon at 47 miles. Should be exciting.

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Early prediction that Malindi Elmore sneaks onto the podium.

Malindi who? you may be asking - an Olympic runner:

http://canadianrunner.ca/

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Advocating for research & treatment for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
http://www.meaction.net/about/what-is-me/

"Suck it up, Buttercup"
(me, to myself, every day)

I wonder if he is going to back off a little bit and not try to lead this into T2. All he needs to do is ride strong but not UBER!

Yeah. I think he is holding the gap. Lap 3 and the run is where the race will be decided.

So much for that strategy. IM blog has him eating the gap down to 4 :xx. Either way looks like it will be a fun finish.

Erin mentioned on Periscope this morning : the whisper was Cam Wurf is looking to break the bike record. Hope Lionel doesn't try to keep up with Cam, rather, save the legs for a great run

At 65 miles Lionel is only 3:24 behind Cam.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Well at exactly 1/2 way they are riding exactly the same time thus far. Cam is going to have to hump it if he wants the record, at least if he wants it for more than a couple minutes. Lionel has a lot of guys to chase still and I imagine his back half will be a solid ride. Of course the lead Moto could be a factor once they start really lapping AG'ers. Could be a lot of compression of bike lenghts while trying to clear a path for the leader.

No news on Jacobs? He isn't appearing in the splits