That Sweet Pinarello that Riis tossed was one of the most beautiful bikes ever built....and if we recall correctly, the guy who ended up winning that 1997 Tour de France was none other than another lame "idiot" that some on this forum like to pick on (ie Jan Ullrich) :-)

oh yea - he's obviously an "idiot". How stupid of him to let himself get into such terrible shape that he can only win half ass races like the Vuelta and the Tour de Swiss and finish the world's toughest race in the top 4 everytime he's started it.

The bike company could spin the "bike toss" in a positive manner. "Our bikes are real light and strong. Look how far this little skinny guy can throw our bike without even a scratch"

I was disappointed in the DNF because it screwed up my Fantasy Ironman Team. :)

Agreed.

The whole thing had this extraoriinary feel to it when it really should not have been a big deal. Top race contender gets a flat. Stops. Fixes flat and then get's back into the game quickly. It's a pretty routine situation. Had THIS happened, we would not be having this discussion and we may be talking instead about the exciting sprint finish down Allii between Faris and Norman!

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Excellent advice, thanks.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

Fleck, you do know he had two flats not just one and a bee sting. It was a little more complicated then just fixing one flat which he did. I belive when he got the second flat he had to wait around for the SAG waggon and who knows how much time he had lost at this point.

bee stings on the bike are bad. anyone ever had one fly into their helmet?

I vote for a new Slowtwitch motto:

"We're fickle. No we aren't"

Let's put perhaps your face on the sissy poster. Whenever you can beat one of these guys on the race, maybe then you can talk trash. Until then, shut your mouth and appreciate what these pros bring to the sport we love.

Indeed, things did start to snowball out of control for the Champ. It was a really unfortunate situation for him. My only point was that, the initial flat should not have been that BIG a problem. If you are riding on good rubber, flats are a very infrequent, but changing them in a race situation should be routine and straight-forward.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Stadler

I can't stand this notion that a Pro can't be criticized for not finishing. It is just bullshit. Part of the money they get paid is for being in the spotlight, (yes from their sponsots). Yes, they may make less than some AGers do in their jobs, but that does not immunize them from being criticized. No.

The same way if you fucked up or quit while performing your job you would be criticized by your boss or co-worker, etc.

Also, these guys might be doing the same course, but they aren't "playing" in the same game. They get 15 minute head starts, better help during transitions from volunteer staff, are able to mount their shoes on their bikes, and win prize money.

I am not necessarily agreeing with the original post about Lessing or Stadler being a pussy, but I do think that these guys as should all pro be complimented and applauded on great race performances as well as criticized for poor ones.

Also, let's take your argument regarding you don't see Tom Brady coming down to play football with you. I think it is precisely because of this that some people find pros who quit as dishonoring the sport. If I am playing a game or competing, I don't like playing with quitters. Just because someone is losing or won't win doesn't mean they should give up. It is one thing if the person will suffer permanent injury, it is another if 2 flats won't allow the person to podium.

I don't glue my own wheels. The guy who does glues for some people who have been and go to the olympics - I'd have a hard time getting off the tires/tyres. They are stuck there pretty much for good - wheel swap is the only option in racing. He glues them for road riding, not triathlon.

Flats should not interfere with the pro race - get some mavic motorbikes and have all the pros covered. Let the athlete not luck determine who wins, especially hearing stories about tacks from IM Canada.

What is the cost? I'm sure everyone would be glad to add $25 per entry for flat protection. Mavic gets PR, you get a fresh wheel - pro and AG, everyone wins. No? Am I missing something?

Are there any pictures on the net of Stadler throwing the bike?

Was more of an aggressive "get away from me" push than an actual throw.

I did IMF last weekend. Paula Newby-Fraser addressed a group of us Thursday, and this is what she said happened:

First flat: NS can't get tubular tire off rim because there was no spot opposite the valve left unglued.

Second Flat: Oops, the support vehicle had given him a clincher wheel after the first flat. He has no tubes with him, of course. Game over.

She was rough on him, saying, essentially, "He's a pro. He should glue his own tires on rather than trust the job to a local bike shop."

She never did get around to the story of the bee sting......

Ben

I can understand Norman's reaction as well, but do not condone it. Does anyone have more detail on what happened and why he could not fix the flat? That's like showing up to a presentation to prosepective clients and fogetting your company lieterature, laptop or Infocus. The piece that was shown did not depict Norman as a very good sportsman (throwing the bike).

Now Natasha is a class act. 4 min penalty and she maintained her cool - win or not. Pukes (was it last year or the year before?) and still continues on.

Hi Guys,

Tony De Boom here. I work on the sponsor side of things now with Tri Dubai and if you didn't know, both Normann and Simon are part of the team. The team was more than happy with both Normann and Simon. These guys are professionals in every sense of the word. Yes, they both had rough days (as did Tim), but you all really know just a fraction of what happened and although it's your right to criticize these guys, you really shouldn't unless you know the truth. Normann had a bad luck day period. When he finally pulled out he had just shreaded his calf with his chainring and really couldn't have done much more to get back in the race. Even after pulling out of a race he was the defending champ in, he still came down to the race and hung out with his sponsors and had dinner with teammates and friends - all class. Same for Simon - he hasn't quite figured out ironman racing yet, but I would still bet money on him everytime he towed the line. He is a completely professional athlete in every aspect of the game. The hardest part of ironman racing is learning the nutritional side of things and I have no doubt that with the commitment and level of professionalism Simon possesses, he will get it dialed in.

Like I said, it's your call to sit in your chairs and criticize these guys, but the truth isn't always what you think. Thanks for listening.



Tony De Boom

Team Director, Tri Dubai Professional Triathlon Team

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founder, Endurance Conspiracy
http://www.enduranceconspiracy.com

What does a guy who biked half the LP bike coarse missing one arm pad and walked most of the run with stomach cramps (all in the same race) know about professional triathletes? :-) Thanks for the input Tony.

I just think it is a affront to the sport to not finish a race. Look at Frank Farrar or Sarah Reinersten or the countless other guys and girls who overcome age, disease, illness, limb loss who go out and finish. The race is about MENTAL toughness as well as physical and those guys who don't go out and finish, barring severe injury or catastrophic mechanical failure (not 2 blown tires) disgrace the sport as well as those who overcome so much more. Essentially they are saying to the other competitors (IMO), I am better than you, I'm not going to put it out on the line unless I am going to win or podium. I don't know the details about Stadler, Lessing, De Boom, etc. maybe they had "legitimate" excuses. However, as athletes in the public eye I think they owe it to their fans and the sport to at least detail the reason, rather than let everyone just come up with their own conjecture.

Funny thing is these guys are saying, "if you slacked off on the job, you would expect your boss to criticize you". Last time I checked (and I really did not check that hard), none of the anonymous posters were the boss of either Herr Stadler or Mr. Lessing. Funny thing, is that the "boss/sponsor (ie Team Tri Dubai)" of these two athletes have piped in saying that they are happy with their employees, so it looks like we should all go back to our age group fantasy land and revert to worrying about our very aero positions and whether the P3C is faster than the Colnago C40 :-)

You state: "When he finally pulled out he had just shreaded his calf with his chainring and really couldn't have done much more to get back in the race. Even after pulling out of a race he was the defending champ in, he still came down to the race and hung out with his sponsors and had dinner with teammates and friends - all class."

Big deal. I've seen plenty of Age Groupers wipe out, get off the butts and finish the race. How about the guy last year who walked his bike in for the last 7 miles after getting hit by a motorbike. Please excuse me, but I don't see what is so classy about relaxing with your sponsors, explaining yourself no doubt, and then crying in your beer (gatorade, etc.) with your teammates.

So many of the AGer's love this sport because they get to race with the Pros. Pros in all sports, set an example for all of us. What do you think would ever happen if a Pro football, baseball, soccer team decided to walk off the field because they were losing and had no chance of winning?

Stadler is a PRO. We expect him to act as such. There is prize money associated with these races because people enjoy watching (and competing in the case of Triathlon) with the best in the world.

No Tony. What you state does not explain Norman's actions. If he was injured and continuing would have been detrimental to his health then fine, he should have stopped. That is not what you said happend.

How much better would it have been if on national TV we could have seen a Professional suck it up and continue on. I thought that spirit is one of the things that Ironman is all about.

Ha-ha Tony,

now you've gone and done it. Logic doesn't work with us guys. You may say as the coordinator of their main sponsor that everyone is still happy, but we won't believe it. You may think that as a former pro you know what it's like to have to make a decision to waste the next two weeks of your life on a throw-a-way finish - but clearly you haven't been on slowtwitch enough!

you should really know there are two things that everyone here thinks are important:

1) Fast bike splits

2) Finishing the race no matter what

Of course if you are a French math teacher then you can be forgiven, but only if you make an effort to post at least 15 times per day. When your average is back up around 10+ per day then maybe what you say on slowtwich will make sense. but come on man - until then don't try to use logic on us. it just doesn't work.

Tony -

I appreciate and understand you standing up for your athletes.

I'm just an age grouper. Frankly, I suck on most days and luck has dealt me some tough blows on some tough race days. I've never cried during a race and if I can't imagine letting myself give in to that.

When I saw the Kona coverage (before I ever read this thread) I was shocked to see Stadler melt down like my son's friend who cries like a 2 year old.

That is not a great representation of himself nor his sponsors.

Triathlon is tough. Suck it up.

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Tri Hard !

Plus the Stadler blubbering segment came right after the Blaiseman segment. Looked REALLY bad in context of that.