Point of clarification if you don't mind - most IMs these days leave a lot of athletes with no choice but to break the rules. The sheer volume of athletes hitting the bike course over a short period of time makes it mathematically impossible for all athletes to ride legal, and still ride their own race.



At 32.5km/h, a cyclist covers 2667 meters in 5 minutes. The rules state that riders should keep 7 meters between bikes, so if you add the length of the bike then you need roughly 9 meters for each bike/draft zone. Those 2667 meters will theoretically accommodate 296 riders, if they are perfectly spaced.

Checked the IMFL results and found 280 swimmers exited the water between 1:05 and 1:10. They could, theoretically, ride legal. From 1:10 to 1:15 there were 405 swimmers exit, then 368, 306 and 277 in successive 5 minute segments. 2/3s of the field are packed on the course in a space that is too small to accommodate them and all still be legal.

Hypothetical? Yes, but I think it illustrates well the problem. Sure, some will be legal in that space, but only because there are also groups of 70 milling about three abreast in a space of about 150 meters.

I sympathize with you, having to answer for a situation that is not your creation. It's like the NFL telling teams to field 12 players, but instructing the referees to penalize a team for having more than 11. But this illustration, and the video from the OP, shows that for somebody swimming 1:12 it is highly probable they will at some point on the bike, be in a position violation unless they sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes until the steady stream of wheel-to-wheel riders abates.

More officials and bigger penalties aren't going to have any effect, unless the density on the bike course is properly managed so that the athletes intentionally breaking rules are isolated.