My impression this weekend was the signing was solely for US TT Nationals. Not sure she plans pro road racing but I look forward to other's clarifying.

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cock-up before conspiracy

One thing that is quite clear is that in triathlon at the moment she is without many peers in the same ballpark regarding bike power. If they got her a dialed position that would be amazing because she has a lot of room to get slippery.


Here is the interview and backstory. From her mouth, this is an addition to her triathlon career. She is focusing on TTs, particularly nats which she should have a great chance of winning as the women's field is not super deep. She is also asked about road racing and she seems interested, but talked about asking Trek to do a skills assessment of her first as she wants to make sure she and others would be safe if she joined European road races. Cool stuff.


https://www.ivoox.com/en/episode125-taylor-knibb-joins-trek-world-tour-team-audios-mp3_rf_110192350_1.html

From the interview, it also sounds like she is very aware that she is not in a dialed position because she is learning to fit her body to these positions and handle the bike at this point. She talked about knowing she has helmet issues, skinsuits, shoes, etc. This could be interesting.

I wonder if there would be any chance of doubling for the Olympics? That would be pretty cool if races wouldn't impact one another. I know this is getting a bit ahead of any qualifying, but it seems like she's in a pretty cool spot.

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Likewise, this would be very, very cool. I don't know what the Q criteria is to make the team, but it would be very exciting if she could make it.

She said on the podcast that the schedule allows for it.

The interview was well done. Taylor seems very clear eyed about what this entails and the level of pro cycling. Things like asking for a skills assessment by the team for her own safety and that of others before jumping in a road race is a very mature decision.

The timing also makes sense with Ellen Van Dijk on maternity leave

There have been other ladies go from Tri to be the worlds best in TT, only natural since that is the dominant way we ride. But I think Knibb may even be one of those truly special riders, but she will have to learn to ride in bigger packs than the typical ITU one. She lacks some skills there, she is either on the front drilling everyone, or off the back several bike lengths playing it super safe. She has the power to overcome that pack sheepishness, but in real road racing she would not be afforded that luxury.

But the tt for sure, I believe she could dominate that particular cycling event, and perhaps do that double at the games. That could put her at a total of 3 medal races, and who knows, maybe the RR if she has a mind to do it all..

  
I am not sure how it works in the US, but in Canada the guys used in the TT also have road responsibility. You won't be selected just for TT.

Lisa Norden has raced a number of Cycling worlds, and has national TT titles. I believe Nicola Spirig has also raced nationals/worlds in the TT. On the para side, Lauren Parker is trying to qualify for the Olympics in both para-cycling and paratriathlon as well.

I also believe that one of the younger Norwegian pro triathletes signed with with the Hitec Pro women's team and is racing both on the Pro cycling and World tri circuit.

Yes those ladies did quite well, but nothing compared to Kristen Armstrong, who won 3 gold medals in the TT in 3 separate games..And she had no where near the success that Knibb has had in triathlon, but did commit herself to the TT exclusively at one point latter in her career..

I'm very excited to see where this might play out for Taylor, she is a very exciting new prospect who is already breaking down barriers in the womens triathlon divisions. And her run is getting to the point that she could very well take a medal in the individual triathlon given the right race dynamics, and certainly will be in contention on the US relay if she gets that far...Cant see a scenario where she is healthy and not on that relay team too, it is the 2nd spot that is up for grabs..

Typically yes that would be the case for the Olympic roster for bigger nations to require the rider to do both TT and Road. The roster for the United States does have Chloe Dygert who is also miles ahead of all her competition so it is hard for me to see how she will fit in for Paris since there might be a more limited roster for the United States due to where they are sitting in terms of the UCI nation rankings but I can definitely see her at the LA Olympics.
The big difference between her and Paula in participating in the ITT at their respective nationals is that there really isn't that much talent relatively speaking when it comes to Canadian cycling. The two biggest names I can even think off the top of my head that does road races are Maggie Coles-Lyster and Allison Jackson, neither of them are even TT riders. The United States has a lot of road racing talent on the women's side so it would be a significantly harder competition for Taylor.
I know she is working on handing skills and she is most likely quite far behind a UCI pro peloton in terms of bike handing skills. I can also imagine that she might need to get that peak power up for road races if she does pursue that in order to contend breakaways and bunch finishes but Ian can get her up to where she would need to be in a very short time and that she really isn't that far back from the top UCI pros excluding pure sprinters. The UCI rule change for TT this year does help her get to conform to the regulation even easier and I think that they can even just stay in the 0-50mm setback with her current reach.
All in all, she would be a very strong contender in the ITT at nationals and would most likely make that podium at nationals based on who is listed.

<pink> don't tell anyone....I checked if Lionel could make it to the Olympics </pink>

One of the great things that I haven't heard discussed is that the pro contract also came with the UCI minimum pro salary. While the UCI has different minimums for pro men and women, Trek covers the difference and pays riders equally. So Taylor got herself a $65,000 salary bump and a shitload of extra benefits and support. Good for her!

The Olympics are for athletes, not fitness influencers.

Does anyone know the start list? On paper, Falukner, Lea Thomas, Dygert, Neven and Stephens are superior? I have no idea of the watts that Knibb can move, neither is she is used to go full gas in a TT and use a UCI legal TT bike (is she is using a legal one in PTO??)...but seems sooooo exciting. The only triathlete that I can think of winning ITT national champs is Flora

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Spaniard. Sorry for my english for the sensitive ones :P

*cough*
Findley
Norden
?

Paula Findlay won the Canadian TT National Title last year. And she's coming back to defend it this year. She's talked about going to the Olympics to race the TT, but I don't know what exactly the qualifying looks like for that.

karin thurig

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"On paper" - which paper is this please?
Why do you think "going full gas for 40km - see chase in Bermuda - or indeed St George last year and just now in Boulder, means "she isn't used to going full gas"? She averaged 43kph on a road bike with clip-ons at the 2021 Collins Cup and is now obv a lot better than she was there (Aug 2021).
Listen to the ProTriNews interview - her set up on her TT bike is either UCI legal or very close to it. Who would have even thought of that as an issue? ;)
As others have offered for national TT champs:
Findlay ITT, Norden ITT, Matthews 100mile, and go and look at Thürig's record for TT as well as tri (spoiler multiple ITT world champ), Spirig was second in SUI ITT in 2018.
Start list has not yet been published but Knibb has been assured of a place (field limited to 35) . Here's last year's result (Leah Thomas ftw, only 23km (why not the same length as the men?)) https://www.procyclingstats.com/...s-we-itt/2022/result ITT won in 46kph both in 2021 and 2022.
Knibb'll be cycling/racing for Lidl-Trek next month.

Yep, seems like most of slowtwitch already forgot about Karin!

According to Jack Jelly from HTT she will dominate the world of cycling; ITT and Grand Tours.

I don’t agree with the GT prediction, but I think she’ll do great in the ITT. Very excited for her.

would her signing have to be with "Lidl-Trek"?
https://www.cyclingnews.com/...from-tour-de-france/

oh and for the non-german speakers:
That's Lidl as in the English word "lead" plus an added L
Would almost sound a little like "Little Trek" (with a softer prounounciation of the "tt")

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In France we've had an amazing female athlete like that in the 2000's. The name is Edwige Pitel. She had early success in athletics (european champ in team cross-country in 96), then went on to dominate on the duathlon scene (LD and SD world champ, euro champ, multiple times french champ), then specialized in cycling with two golds in both national road and TT championships, beating the iconic Jeannie Longo in the process. She made the cycling national team in the Olympics in Athens. Great versatility, even if there is no swim involved!