I was assuming it would be illegal to draft, but I can't find anything about it on the official race website. Also, I might overestimate the amount of slowing down needed to take these turns, but I would be surprised if we would not get the same situation as in Challenge Daytona, where it was next to impossible for the pros to hold themselves out of eachother's drafting zones. Thanks.

While being a Lionel fan, I can already see the video where it completely surprised him how important it is to take the correct line around in the corners and how it ended up costing him time.

those "turns" aren't likely as sharp as you may think.

Not sure if you're implying there won't be any braking and surges out of the corners ? It's pretty clear from Google street view that bike handling in the turns will likely make or break your race.

Not sure if you're implying there won't be any braking and surges out of the corners ? It's pretty clear from Google street view that bike handling in the turns will likely make or break your race.

+1 A course made for cars going 200 mph will not be a problem for bikes going 30 mph! This is the same problem of scale in play when people think a race has super big, steep climbs because of the compressed elevation profiles. So, when drawn at a scale of 1 inch = 1 miles turns are going to look tight :-)

It really was astounding how far you could lay those skinny tires down before actually breaking loose. Now of course with super deep race wheels it will be much more difficult, but I dont see these turns as anything close to a crit turn..

What James said. It’s not as punchy as you think. The course is still a race track (even the parts with turns). If it’s technical for a bike course, it would be absolutely miserable as a race car driver (read: incredibly slow, tight, and unsafe). They wouldn’t design a race track like that.

There might be one corner on that course where you have to get out of the aero bars and tap the brakes but I’m questioning if that’s even needed.

What James said. It’s not as punchy as you think. The course is still a race track (even the parts with turns). If it’s technical for a bike course, it would be absolutely miserable as a race car driver (read: incredibly slow, tight, and unsafe). They wouldn’t design a race track like that.

There might be one corner on that course where you have to get out of the aero bars and tap the brakes but I’m questioning if that’s even needed.

I recommend you watch a few of the BwB interviews to gain a bit some perspective on how technical many of the pros feel this bike race is and the slowdown that will occur in the corners.

I love how everyone has an opinion of this, who clearly hasn’t been on the track. True - been on others and never had to use my breaks except coming into transition.

The turns might not be “technical” per a cyclist standard, but for many triathletes it is. Hopefully not the "pros".

And the comment about the pavement being great clearly has not been on the road course. There is a good part of each turn where the pavement has gouges out of it and it is not smooth. The gouges happen to appear at the apex of each of the turns. Fair - I just assumed a track in Florida would be in better shape than upstate NY. I guess the sun is worse for the track than the snow & ice.

Handling will 100% be a factor in this, and ability to carry speed will be as well. I'd hope so, but you can do that and not slow down. Same issue on any course I would assume unless racing a 1.5 mile oval or bigger (i.e. Vegas)

Rode on it this morning with many pros, and you can tell that many can not corner very well or maintain speed through them. OK - surprised. Perhaps they need their "pro card" pulled.