For sure he's gonna give it a go and he's got absolutely no chance of being competitive at the top level.

Might be the fat shaming taking its toll https://road.cc/...uary-2022-298475?amp

Years ago I remember Lance Armstrong saying that Richie Porte will win the Ironman some day. Had the Norwegians not come along that might have come true.

I'm always intrigued to see single sport athletes cross over to triathlon during and after their prime. Cam Wurf and Steve Larson being my favorites.

For those that are not familiar, he was a competitive swimmer in his youth and then did triathlon prior to becoming a professional cyclist. He's used swimming in the past as a training aid - 20K-27K a week during some of his off seasons. GCN had a video about it, unfortunately not too many shots of his stroke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAxDDF20x0M

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Matt

I don't know, man. You'd think a better swimmer (significantly), rider & runner than Wurf would at least be a little bit competitive.

I don't know if at 5'7" and 62 kilos if Richie would out TT Cam Wurf in Kona but yes in Nice. He is perfect for the Nice course

To be fair, despite being a smaller rider, Porte is a pretty good time trials. He's been on the podium 5 times (including his 2015 win where he beat Rohan Dennis) in the Australian National Time Trial championships and had some decent TT's in Europe as well.

Porte and Wurf have faced off 10 times in time trials with Porte winning 9 of them (granted you can't take every result at face value since they may have been given different instructions/strategies as part of the teams goals for certain TT's):
https://www.procyclingstats.com/...;s=same-race-results

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Matt

But Porte has never faced Cam in a 180km TT. There is a reason that no one under 5"10' has won Kona other than Welch (his on arguably a softer year with no Allan, and just before Reid, Van Lierde, Hellriegel, DeBoom, Faris (all much bigger than Welch or Porte). I think his best chance is Nice, not Kona. If you do the math moving a set of 700c wheels through the wind for 180km is identical whether you are Porte or at the other height exteme, Frodeno. Granted the bigger rider has a bigger self to move through the air, but the tax of the wheels is identical. The energy to move wheels skims away a fixed amount of avaible top line watts. What remains is to move a larger frame and larger body through the air, but that is proportionally a larger remainder for the larger rider. So advantage to Wurf over Porte, the longer the TT gets.

I really hope Richie smashes things up. But I think he does that at Nice more effectively than Kona. Kona favours the larger TT person at least on the bike. Of course on the run, the lighter you are the better in Kona humidity

Dev

That's a lot of mental gymnastics you are doing

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Matt

Dev Paul has been doing these gymnastics for years when it comes to his thoughts on the bike leg. Apparently some of the best world tour tt guys are just too small to do well on tts as long as an ironman bike leg.

I can ask him this weekend at 70.3 Tassie, I'm pretty sure he plans to come and watch. Though I have a feeling you pundits are going to be disappointed.

As it happens, I think he just likes swimming!

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http://www.josh-amberger.com/

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Looking forward to following you lot this weekend Josh,especially with Jake making his 70.3 debut.

I think the Norwegians have moved the sport to the next phase, no longer talented people from other sports will turn up and be anywhere near the top. Future Kona winners will most likely be lifelong triathletes with no weaknesses who can swim 1'10/100m and run low 2'30s in end, equally competitive from olympic to Ironman distance. It'll never happen if you have spent 10 years preparing for the tour de France.

just like no rookie has ever won kona.




oh wait.

Ask him if Dev is correct that Cam would defiantly kick his ass in an 180K time trial.

I cannot conceive of Wurf being anything but defiant in such a mano a mano contest.

He won’t race pro. He’s not god enough.

Still think he will do an Ironman. Maybe just a local Aussie or kiwi one

"There is a reason that no one under 5"10'"
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Gustav is really close!! Cindy is 5'6"

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

1:10 / 100m will be the minimum to be competitive. My 15 year old is already under 1:08/100m, very respectable but not close to being an outlier in swimming.

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___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

This sounds oddly familiar ...

How Dev's "logic" works, is one of life's biggest mystery's:

Wurf's palmares as a pro cyclist: 0 wins. 0 TT, 0 TDFs. Recent Pro Tour time trial results: 60-74th placings. His performances against the clock before 2017 are even worse.

vs.

Porte: 33 wins 8 TT wins, 11 TDfs. Recent Pro Tour time trial results: 16, 29, 43, 9th (and against some heavy hitters like Kung)

Head to head on Pro Cycling Stats, I could not find a single time trial result where Wurf was ahead of Porte.

Yet somehow in Dev's mind, he thinks triathlon now has the best pro tour rider against the clock and he is going to destroy any of the other ~300 riders he has not been able to beat.

Don't get me wrong, Wurf is an excellent cyclist but he does not stand a chance against a world class TT riders.

I love that you’ve been on this forum for so long! Yes, please give us pundits some insider info. And tell Birtwhistle that Dev Paul says he’s tall enough to win Kona.

Speaking of, what is Jake’s Aussie nickname?

Also, what do you think of The Chats? You like the heavy stuff, but what about the irreverent?

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

LOL, you made me google Jake's nickname and nothing came up :-)

I ordered another ITU trisuit for my son (who is doing triathlon pathway races here in Australia) about 6 months ago and was asking about size (he's 181m tall but weighs only 58 kilos) and if size S would not be too small. The provider replied that Jake Birtwhistle was 185 and had a size S too (of the same brand).

Piss Rash is a great song.