I can assure you they don't pay Varga. Or Schoemann!! It is in Varga's interest to team up with them on the bike because that way he get's top ten finishes (e.g. 7th in Stockholm 2013, 6th in Kitzbuhel 2013, 9th in Auckland 2014) which he would not get otherwise. The same for Schoemann (whose running this year is well below par from injury compared to 2013 when he had a 6th in Yohohama, a 4th in Kitzbuhel, a good 11th in Hamburg).

Also, I disagree that Schoemann was helping Murray at the Common Wealth Games. It was him and the Brownlees who pushed the swim (he exited first) which effectively ended Murray's chance of victory and he was taking pulls on the bike and his 1st lap crash was due to poor bike handling skills, not a tactical decision to help Murray. And had the lead bike group got a 2 minute lead, then he would have given himself a chance for bronze himself...

Also, I disagree that Schoemann was helping Murray at the Common Wealth Games. It was him and the Brownlees who pushed the swim (he exited first) which effectively ended Murray's chance of victory and he was taking pulls on the bike and his 1st lap crash was due to poor bike handling skills, not a tactical decision to help Murray. And had the lead bike group got a 2 minute lead, then he would have given himself a chance for bronze himself...//


Thats what i saw in that race too. But someone should pay Schoemann, probably should be Murray and his federation. But i can see some money sliding over from GBR and Spain if they don't ante up..

She was maybe down to 1:30 max, even if she pulled back to 1:40. She would have won the over all series//

I think you are a little off on your calculation here. The difference between someone fading and pulling themselves, and a super strong cycling domestic pulling themselves inside out to bridge for you, well it is not 10 seconds. I would say start at 30 seconds, then subtract from her run because of all the drilling she would have had to do on her own. Close to a minute more onto that 1;30 by the end of the race i would imagine.


Still would have won the series, but these are calculations that are going to be very real and necessary once Rio rolls around.

I don't know...seems like I've heard enough times that they have an arrangement with Varga. That being said, I'd guess you're a Brit and you always seem very well informed, so maybe you have the inside scoop. At the very least he goes to training camps with them.

Anyone else have insights? Am I having a Bushwick Bill moment and my mind's playing tricks on me?

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

While I don't think we can say any athlete is on the payroll for other athletes, being paid to help another athlete has certainly occurred before in ITU. Whether or not it's "official" or not is probaly more accurate way to describe it.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

It is not just training camps, they have climbed mountains together. They are all good friends ...

But in what sense has Varga acted as a domestique? He hasn't. Remember that Varga is a much better swimmer than virtually anyone in ITU swimming and if he really went flat out, he'd probably have a 45 second lead. But that is completely pointless which is why he swims within himself (but still results in him leading the swim on most occasions.) The only "collusion" between Varga and the Brownlees is that he'll make an effort to push the swim a bit more than usual. It gets him into the break and usually the Brownlees (and Gomez) have got rid of dangerous runners. Once the break is established, they don't help him and on several occasions, have dropped him early on (Madrid 2013, Hamburg 2013, Stockholm 2014 etc). So this is hardly a domestique relationship, even if he was being paid (which he isn't.)

The Varga "arrangement" works in that they've all done quite a bit of training together. The Brownlees are happy to let Varga stick around doing less work on the bike than they do because with each of them doing 40% and Varga doing 20% of the work, that's better than the alternative of each Brownlee doing 50% of the work. (Note: those are made-up percentages and I'm obviously not accounting for Gomez, Schoeman, Tommy Zafares, or any other athletes that sometimes find themselves in that front group). The reason they don't mind is because they know he's still going to be effectively a non-factor on the run, but it's of course in his interest to start the run with a 1-2 minute gap. The Molas and Murrays of the world will still run him down 99/100 times, but if he's got a big enough gap, he can hang on over the bulk of the chase pack instead of trying to duke it out and finishing 46th.

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IG: idking90

The only "collusion" between Varga and the Brownlees is that he'll make an effort to push the swim a bit more than usual. It gets him into the break and usually the Brownlees (and Gomez) have got rid of dangerous runners. Once the break is established, they don't help him and on several occasions, have dropped him early on (Madrid 2013, Hamburg 2013, Stockholm 2014 etc)

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Regardless of if Varga actually gets paid or not, Varga to the front group is a swim sherpa/domestique more often then not. He more times than not simply pushes out the pace to do what I bolded. So it's in Brownlees/Gomez's best to collude/hope/think that Varga is going to take the swim out hard (but within his limits), and string out the swim. So he's pretty much an official/unofficial domestique for the front group. Sorta like Tom Davidson is the "sherpa" for the chase group, everyone in the chase group hopes he's there because they will all benefit from him turning himself inside out to chase the front group, whether he's actually paid or not to be that role.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

So, given that Gomez has gone 15:30 for 1500 scm in the pool, are you saying Varga has gone 14:45-ish for 1500 scm??? Just curious...:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."