Yes it will be on Lionels YouTube and you can rewind.

thanks, this will be awesome. Between Cav chasing Merckx and Lionel chasing Jan, Sunday should be a great day for sports underdogs!

I say that Jan goes sub 7:40 and Lionel goes sub 7:50. Lionel is going to want to beat his time from IM Arizona (7:44?). Jan will want too beat his time from Roth (7:35).

As slowman wrote on the front page, Lionel does have a certain advantage to hit his goals in a pure ITT. I think he actually does better in an ITT than when others are around. In Challenge Daytona, the guy did an ITT and moved up to 4th with the main swim/bike pack waay ahead. Same for his Canadian hour record chasing the ghost of Jen Voigt which was his goal time (he got 51.3 kph).

Is this going to be a wetsuit swim? I assume so? Hopefully Lionel is over the travel and jetlag. I'd love to see him go under his IM Arizona time.

Lionels pb is 7'44 in Arizona heat
Jan's pb is 7'35 on a short course with hills and a flat tyre or crash

If it's going to be low wind and cooler temperature conditions and the course is optimized (swim guide cables, turn around ramps, short transition areas, good surface etc etc) then there is a chance to rewrite the pbs

Its great that the lead vehicles pace from behind the athletes, but it would also have been great to have a drone projecting the world record pace stripe on the road with a laser so you can see what Jan is chasing ala breaking 2

Nice work on the video. Say hi to Paul Kaye! I liked this quote from Lionel, "I don't want to pace him I want to drop him". It is cool how they are setting this up like a proper race unlike Kipchoge's sub 2 Nike exhibition circus.

That's a good take,

This is such a pioneering moment for pro TRI

Jan said he was seeking as many "finishlines as possible". Right now he is the reigning Kona champ, record holder aaaayund 39 years old at the same time as the covid crisis where any event is only penciled in. This event also stands up during a time where let's be honest pro prize purses and appearance fees are modest, event resources are low (covid), some events even debating relevance of pros, uncertainty of events being possible etc.....Jan is doing the impossible and making events irrelevant to him and Lionel as pro triathletes.
That is severing a pretty big umbilical cord. Anyone still doubting that Jan is goat? While this format was partially litmus tested with the abundent viewership of his successful solo ironman last year and perhaps also by the breaking 2 event. But now Jan proves that pro triathlon is a true spectator sport and triathlon not just a participation sport by hosting this exhibition event on his own! That's true clout. They are closing down the Autobahn for Jan and Lionel to bike for gods sake!!! All other pros and events are left in the cold. pro triathlon will be the winner at the end of the day when people realize how engaged people are to watch the build up and performances of popular pro athletes. For progression it would be great to see Jan partner put on more events. PTO comes to mind to provide a deep purse but they must represent the pro athletes as a body not just showcase 10-20 or so.

A good fair take on tomorrow's race:

https://triathlonmagazine.ca/...sanders-and-frodeno/

"Although Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt haven’t done a full-distance race, either of these two would have been better opponents for Frodeno."

Sick burn.

The comment on "game changing carbon shoes" is interesting as IIRC Jan runs in the non carbon Hoka.

Wow so many awesome details I did not know of!
Jan is really gunning for sub730 and don't want anyone being able to question it! No lead vehicles, certified course (which sucks as that makes it longer than 99% of all Im courses 🤔)

Not to mention the foam is mostly what makes them faster (which hoka doesn't have either?)

He's running in the Hoka rocket x 2 with carbon plate

Live feed on Lionel's youtube for North America, so should be good to go.


Two things stand out. For all the people that think this only happened because of a call out.

450 people are directly working on this race. That's a lot!

And anti-doping control for urine and blood. Expensive.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Yes, agreed. he also mentions the new faster shoes in his interview.

Frodeno has been working on this idea for a long time. He even had the permits secured last year but then decided to do tri at home instead. The idea has evolved but it was already well in the works when he made that post asking for a challenge.

Yeah this event has been planned for almost a year. I think there was a German interview where Jan mentioned they were supposed to do it earlier this year or late last year but had to delay due to injury.

I do think the invite to Lionel was not planned originally. Jan's original video was definitely planned with this event in mind but then Lionel jumped in and the opportunity/idea grew.

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blog

The swim course looks to have exactly the rowing cables found in IMLP and Montreal bassin, where you simply don’t need to sight… it will be easy to navigate

Sanders will get drilled in this race, it should be all over about 500m into the swim, but I think to make "good television" Frodo will go easy on Sanders and make it look like a race. I wouldn't be surprised if they get off the bike together and then at some point Frodo will drop the hammer in the run.

You do know we're talking about a guy who is literally a world class cyclist here. (Who is not classically trained AT ALL) I don't think Jan will lose, but the disrespect Lionel gets on this board never makes sense to me.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

i couldn't agree less with what you just wrote. first, frodeno is going for the record. he's not going to sit up to make good tv. second, the only thing that'll be over 500m into the swim is who exits the swim first, and they don't even need to get wet for us to know that.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Frodeno will not show mercy if he is having a good day. He's going for the fastest ever time. Look at everything he had set up from getting permits, closing roads, anti doping, vehicles will be behind. Frodeno isn't doing this for good television. Everything is set up to prove his legacy and if he breaks the 735 he did in Roth he doesn't want people to say he has cheated. Hopefully Lional can make it interesting.

As has been said before: Just because people believe this is not a close match-up, does not mean anyone is disrespecting Lionel. Lionel is not a “world class cyclist”, even I know that. The course plays to his strengths in that it is about power vs cycling ability but there is really no indication based on past performance, 2021 form or preparation that suggests Lionel has a great shot here.

There is always a chance but the hype and expectation that people are trying to put on Lionel is likely actually more unfair to him than a realistic assessment of the situation.

A quick point of clarification: I have read people say that the bike leg is on the “Autobahn”. Don’t be surprised tomorrow, it is not. It is on B19 which is a “Bundesstraße” and also a major road but not an Autobahn (these are not surprisingly named with “A”).

I had, so maybe others have too, been wondering how he got an Autobahn shut down at all but especially during summer holidays in Germany.

Hold that thought of Lionel not being a world class cyclist. On the velodrome over the hour damn right is he is world class. he rode 51.3 kph at sea level with near zero former velodrome training and beat Jen Voigt's time. He holds the Canadian hour record and likely would smoke Canadian Michael Woods who is a world class cyclist (most recently duking it out for Polka dot and UCI Worlds Bronze in Innsbruck).

I would agree he is no world class cyclist on a technical protour road race, but on today's TT at the TdF Lionel would hold his own as he proved at the hour record.

Lionel has the most experience taking ramp turns , he might catapult through them at 45kph!

This is Sanders fanboyism at its best and very disrespectful towards Woods, who is one of the best cyclists in the world.

In a time trial, yes, maybe Sanders could beat Woods. In a road race, not a chance in hell.

You might struggle with this concept since you watch a lot of cycling but haven't figure it out yet, but road cycling encompasses much more than being a good time trialist.

I was talking about Lionel being world class over one hour on the velodrome. I said he would not be world class in a road race (for all the reasons we and he know). I think you just like to dive in any chance you can concoct to pick a fight with me. Woods has shown little ability in TTs to suggest he would take the canadian hour record on the velodrome. Bottom line Lionel has that record. No Canadian pro cyclist has ever gone that fast. They can give it a go if they want but they are not because it's not an easy number to defeat.

It is totally possible to be world class in one discipline. The discipline I was focused on is the hour record. And this one translates directly to this race with Jan.