1. It seems to me that with the staggering rule, that everything-old-is-new-again as I seem to recall this is the way it was back in the 80's. As long as you were not riding directly behind anyone for an extended period of time it was OK. Side by side or off to the side but slightly behind was fine.
2. Not sure how having 10 - 15 of the leaders coming in together is LESS exciting. I would think the contrary - it's MORE exciting and dramatic. The honest truth is that Ironman races can be fairly boring affairs to watch for anyone other than those who know what's going on and know the sport. Typical commentary: "Reid's got a 3 minute lead on DeBoom" an Hour Later - " Reid's still got a 2 minute lead on DeBoom" !!
3. This is going to cause a considerable amount of confusion particularly for the pro women and top age-group men in mass start races because now there will be two sets of rules in place for people sharing the same road. It's already a challenging situation for both parties for two reasons: 1) The slower swimming pro-women getting caught up in all the traffic and 2) The single file, no blocking, with minimal riding on the left, no drafting rules are asking top age-group men to do something that at times is physically impossible to do ( a result of too many people on too small a road in too short a period of time)
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog