Fleck wrote:
- At this point I came to the realization that Rookie boy Cody was the real deal.
Actually Dev, Cody has been the "Real Deal" for some time! :-)
Steve, what I am trying to say is neither you, nor Cody, nor Lionel nor anyone knew if Cody was the real deal over the IM distance until he delivered on Sunday. Yes, you see him at Multi Sport Canada races from time to time, so he get exposed to him, but you still don't know if he can scale to IM until he does it.
We all knew he was good at half IM, but he's actually not "that good" relative to the best at 70.3 (he's not yet in the Gomez-Frodo-Kienle-Kanute category). Ask Cody where his best half IM fits in the pecking order of good half IM racers.
This 8:10 is is actually much higher in the global IM pecking order. That's what i mean by real deal. That 8:10 at Tremblant is like a sub 7:50 at Arizona for example. It is likely an 8:0x even at Kona assuming he can handle the heat (and he has shown he can over half IM, we just don't know how he scales in heat at IM).
I don't think a fully "ON" Lionel or Sebi or Frodo or Lange would have
easily beaten Cody on Sunday. They would have their hands full.