So, most of us have been sitting on the sidelines since 1994 when they introduced the first draft legal ITU races shaking our heads and thinking that they have made the entire bike leg irrelevent. But if you look at any Tour de France "sprinter stage" (like the one into Bordeaux) or a classic like Milano San Remo, you know the excitement of watching a race with a "breakaway" group being chased down by the sprinters. Will they get gobbled up at the 100m to go sign, or will they hold off Cipollini, Zabel and McEwen to take the race ? This past weekend, when Bettini won at San Remo, was the perfect example. The breakaway group beat the Cipo led bunch by just 11 seconds.
So for draft legal tris, if you went swin-run-bike, every race would have a breakaway group of skinny runners like Whitefield, Ivan Rana etc, trying to hold off the charging bike studs like Miles Stewart, Macca, Olivier Marceau and likely 94 World Champ Spencer Smith. The skinny leg guys would have to work together like crazy to get to the line, and then they could play a poker game if they had time to spare to see who takes the sprint. On the other hand, if they get gobbled by the bunch forming in the back, then they finish in 60th place.
Are there any race directors out there who have tried this format ? This would make for exciting TV coverage. Right, now, watching an ITU race is a big snorefest on the men's side. The womens' race is still exciting because of the Lindquist-Taormina-Hackett-Harrop breakaway at pretty well every race.
So for draft legal tris, if you went swin-run-bike, every race would have a breakaway group of skinny runners like Whitefield, Ivan Rana etc, trying to hold off the charging bike studs like Miles Stewart, Macca, Olivier Marceau and likely 94 World Champ Spencer Smith. The skinny leg guys would have to work together like crazy to get to the line, and then they could play a poker game if they had time to spare to see who takes the sprint. On the other hand, if they get gobbled by the bunch forming in the back, then they finish in 60th place.
Are there any race directors out there who have tried this format ? This would make for exciting TV coverage. Right, now, watching an ITU race is a big snorefest on the men's side. The womens' race is still exciting because of the Lindquist-Taormina-Hackett-Harrop breakaway at pretty well every race.