The problem is, itu has way too many varying race courses to cover. They do races from Yoko that’s 2 lanes wide the entire time on nice smooth tarmac to hamburg that’s riden on 1 lane wide pave.

But one thing you all must understand. Itu coverage at this point must take into account broadcasting procedures. Like someone earlier talked about “sporting”...it’s not just about fair play. It’s about adding in an entertainment value that has to be considered, cus if your simply saying stick to “sports” then let’s cut out all the money that’s apart of this.


So I’m not saying they can’t do better. I’m simply saying there is an entertainment component that needs to be understood and it’s a balancing act with very different capabilities at every single venue.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I know that McElroy rode within 12 seconds of bailie last World Cup

https://wts.triathlon.org/...lon_world_cup/321057

That actually strengthens my point. So now being closer to 30 seconds faster than Baily today, over 6K and 15 faster than Brownlee is an uncharacteristically big ask.

I understand that the bike courses are all different.
Professional bike races have all sorts of different courses and it is extremely rare for a moto to have a drafting effect on the race outcome. I'd say it's nonexistent.

They need to get moto's and camera guys who understand that. You could actually hear J. Brownlee saying "get someone who does this properly, like the guys who shoot the TDF".
The have still cameras and overhead shots. We can be entertained with a shot that comes from 7 meters further away.

In reality, if triathlon wants to be treated as entertainment, they should look after fair play. It's not entertaining to watch one person motor pace away from others.

I'd love it if more pressure was put on the ITU. It sucks for all involved. The US team will not get the credit of a normal winner and the losers don't really know how it'd play out without the bikes.
But if we let the ITU know, it might not happen again! :)

If you you look at the race before that we was 4 seconds faster than Bailie. I am just saying that he is just as good on the bike as Bailie. Mcelroys problem is the swim.

I'm not disagreeing, but this issue happens how often? If you noticed, they went to the still cameras on the little dogleg 180* turn. The camera guys knew when it was smart to be there and when it wasn't. So they'll take their beating, they'll learn from it and make it better. But I'll say this, look at the curvature of the course. The whole main road was a half moon shaped curved road. Could they get out 20m+, yeah I'm probaly sure they can, but the course did them no favors either.

IE, it's they have no problems ever on easy predictable courses.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

So this is how it is, in a straighter, wider course when the camera bikes can be further ahead, ppl whinge because the chase packs often catch the front packs because no one has the motor advantage. They are all riding equally as well as each other. On the more twisty narrower courses the motor has to sit closer to the front cyclist to get footage, giving them the advantage and they can pull/stay away. So I read it as those who have whinged over the years about courses being too easy because the packs come together have caused ITU to create the courses where the front bikers are advantaged, but you now don't like that either. My thoughts, open up the courses a bit, give no one the motorbike advantage and if the chase packs catch well they deserved to, it's not like those guys aren't strong on the bike, just not as strong in the swim. We don't put steeples and jumps on the run course to advantage the lighter, fleet of foot athletes so why should the faster swimmers more frequently have the advantage of tighter and often more dangerous courses where we see them pulling away, due to camera bike help and smaller numbers together being able to ride faster turns more safely. It is a triathlon after all, The fastest, swim/bike/runners should podium, not just fastest swimmers. The viewing audience will always complain either way.

I thought that was a tremendous race. Great action and drama as advertised. Maybe it was just me but this race felt a lot more serious than other relays we’ve seen. (I mean sure, the Spanish blew it off, but everybody else looked to be going a little harder than the usual Hamburg for fun event.)

So hot or not...

Hot:
-Beaugrand! Great run, bet she doesn’t get anymore free rides though...
-Aaron Royale. Glad to see him going well again.
-Shorty bars. Lots of solo riding.

Not hot:
-Charlotte McShane. She is probably the 2nd best female Aussie triathlete, and she occasionally shows really top results, but she seems a bit too inconsistent for the relay.
-South Africa and Spain. Well Spain isn’t trying, but on paper I keep thinking RSA should contend, I keep being proved very wrong.
-Running shoes on the bike. Come on New Zealand, that’s so 2001!

Agreed, but looking forward to Aus having their A Team healthy. Can't wait for the next one, they can bring it.

Ta put up a picture from the briefing with Jeffcoat also there. Maybe they should go with her next race. She would most likely swim and ride with Beaugrande and Kasper, prob lose a bit on the run but then Royle would make most that back up to hand over to Gentle probably up with or close to the front, she would lose some in swim but make it back up on the ride and run to hand over to a Birtwhistle who over this distance would bring it home.

Dude, it's a draft legal race. Splits don't mean much outside of who you were riding with. Watch this video and tell me you think Bailey would only put a few seconds into McElroy in a heads up ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSFgOM2c31Q

Add my 2c

1. I thought it was great overall, my wife watched the whole thing with me and she's not into tri at all - but also enjoyed it. It was really fast tense racing.
2. I think J Brownlee made a big error not having aerobars - and couldn't catch the US guy in the last leg. This goes for quite a few of the participants.
3. I think NZ showed that there is much to be gained having trainers on during the bike (they used some kind of cover with them I think?)
4. It's a great mix of draft / non-draft
5. It seems (so far, having seen previous races) to reward the team that goes the hardest, with minimal tactics.
6. The atheletes are very fast.

Really really like it!

A couple of observations....Pyro Pedals!!!!!! <pink>Also, wondering where the Norwegian Powerhouse team was...asthma kicked up, or training at "altitude"</pink>

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt

I know you are just joking but Norway suffers from the same problem as Spain and RSA. They don't have any female athletes that are even close to having a chance. At the moment Norway has 1 female in the 587 ITU ranked females.

I’ll move there with my wife and two young daughters. Thy will be raised as triathletes.

Any job leads in Norway?

One thing I have learned when it comes to discussions about ITU racing.
The winners always dope.

So I know now that the USA athletes are a bunch of dopers.

Just look at the results, the men sucks. But suddenly they are winners.

This is Lance Armstrong all over again.

What are their VO2Max numbers? ;)

Come on man...don't let facts get in the way of my Hawt Take!

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt

From a Norwegian living and working in the United States who has turned "taking low hanging fruit pot shots at the United States" into a virtual cottage industry....it was in pink, my friend.

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt

Well to get this thread back on track, it's ITU Leeds this weekend and Ali B is not going to be on the start line due to another injury.

I wonder how hard Johnny can make the bike on his own?!

AB out with another injury? I really wonder about his long term prospects in the sport. At what point does he just become too frustrated and find something else to do. If he's injury free he wins, almost any race he wants. But I can't remember the last time he went 6 months injury free. Just the mental frustration of constantly being in rehab mode has just got to suck. Love to see him race Leeds as his home race. I don't think you can get more motivated than AB at itu Leeds.

You did not see the irony in my post.

the tables have turned...well played Sir!

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt

Same with me / my kids and wife watched and thought it was cool.

One thing you get to see is how fast a few of the swimmers actually are. Was Katy’s swim the single best leg in the entire race? She never unleashes it in a race bc of tactics.

Agree about brownlee / aerobars. As they said in the commentary, there will be a lot of leaning and changes for the athletes now that this has become more important.

I will look at splits but I am going to guess Spirig was up there for fastest splits for women.

Not only did brownlee screw up with no aero bars, but he also never secured the straps on his shoes, they were massive and grabbing wind the whole time.

Edit: are true TT bikes allowed? That would have been massive for how this played out.

All splits can be found here https://www.triathlon.org/...es_nottingham/323321

The swim for the women can not be compared as the second women have the run into the water meaning they all have slower swim times. Katie does have the fastest of the second womens splits.

I think the most impressive athlete on the day has to be Aaron Royle being 12 sec faster than the second fastest person (Taylor Reid). Royle and Schilling seem to have rode together and biked almost 20 secs faster than most of the other men.

On the womens side the fastest not starting women was Katie followed by Gentle and then Zsanett Bragmayer from HUN just 4 sec slower than Gentle. Spirig is around the 4th fastest.