One thing that former protour cyclists have mentioned in the past (ex: Huddemark, Jalabert and even Larsen) is that they never TT for much longer than an hour.
The course at Panama offered opportunities to sit up and get out of the saddle. The course at Galveston is a "bolted to the aerbars course". Several times on the way back, Lance was either sitting up or getting out of the saddle to mix it up a bit...stuff that most age groupers do, but most of the pros triathletes are able to stay bolted down. The course at IM France will suit Lance's riding style. Galveston was not great for that. Although Kona has 4000 feet of climbing it is largely an aerobar course and he'll need to figure out how to stay bolted down, get his big lead and also take in 300-400 cals per hours while in the aero. I bet you that Ronnie Schildnecht and Kienle barely moved out of the aerobars through the ride at least when they showed Kienle, he had his nose buried in between his aerobar extensions.
Anyway....what a class field
Van Hoenacker, Schildnecht, Kienle all sub 8 hour IM guys and then you have Ralaert, a 70.3 world champion and O'Donnel who was last year's Kona points leader coming into Kona!!! While Lance got smacked in that field, that's a pretty decent field to get smacked by when you are having a bit of a "not awesome day".
Although it will be cool to see Lance at IM France, I'd rather see him in a more stacked field in Frankfurt as that is a P4000 race and even if he slides back he's going to net more points than winning France.
The course at Panama offered opportunities to sit up and get out of the saddle. The course at Galveston is a "bolted to the aerbars course". Several times on the way back, Lance was either sitting up or getting out of the saddle to mix it up a bit...stuff that most age groupers do, but most of the pros triathletes are able to stay bolted down. The course at IM France will suit Lance's riding style. Galveston was not great for that. Although Kona has 4000 feet of climbing it is largely an aerobar course and he'll need to figure out how to stay bolted down, get his big lead and also take in 300-400 cals per hours while in the aero. I bet you that Ronnie Schildnecht and Kienle barely moved out of the aerobars through the ride at least when they showed Kienle, he had his nose buried in between his aerobar extensions.
Anyway....what a class field
Van Hoenacker, Schildnecht, Kienle all sub 8 hour IM guys and then you have Ralaert, a 70.3 world champion and O'Donnel who was last year's Kona points leader coming into Kona!!! While Lance got smacked in that field, that's a pretty decent field to get smacked by when you are having a bit of a "not awesome day".
Although it will be cool to see Lance at IM France, I'd rather see him in a more stacked field in Frankfurt as that is a P4000 race and even if he slides back he's going to net more points than winning France.
Last edited by:
devashish_paul: Apr 1, 12 12:57