The problems with his bike sound suspicious to me. Any chance someone could have tampered with his bike? I am not very well versed in electrics and physics, but is it possible to disrupt a Di2 system using a strong magnet or something without actually touching the bike?

Real shame about his race. Sebi would be the first pro on my list that I'd like to share a beer with. I would guess he will use his fitness to target an early Kona slot for 2019? Or is he still a guaranteed starter from his win?

eTap > Fail

Thanks for posting. Feel bad for him, could've been a whole different race with him in the front pack. Seems suspicious why shifting would all of a sudden crap out. Great dude, wish he could've raced!

It happens dozens of times in pro tour races, but there you just have to wait for the team car and pick the back up bike. He might still go back to mechanical, if he doesn't trust electronic any more

Dump eTap and go to Shimano Di2

I had DI2 fail completely between racking the bike and the race morning at 2016 70.3 worlds and had another friend at an IM. Both races Shimano mechanic couldn't work it out. I still will stick with DI2 on my tri bike and eTap on my road.

Something of nothing I'm sure; but pre-race accusations between athletes, and now this.

Weren't there a few reported issues with etap regarding electrical storms?

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29 years and counting

Classy guy!

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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.

I had something quite similar happen to me during a race with Shimano Di2 with gears randomly jumping all over the place. It turned out that I had squeezed one of the junction boxes too tightly within the TriRig stem so that one of the buttons on the junction box pressed against one of the inner walls of the stem. It was practically impossible to bike with any major effort because I was afraid of changing gears at any moment.

thanks - missed him in the race, wondered what on earth could cause a mechanical in T1.. didn't think of electrical gremlins..

I had DI2 fail completely between racking the bike and the race morning at 2016 70.3 worlds and had another friend at an IM. Both races Shimano mechanic couldn't work it out. I still will stick with DI2 on my tri bike and eTap on my road.


If I were a pro triathlete and this happened, costing an entire year, I'd be ticked off would have dumped D12 that day.

yep - seems like same issue reported here by Jen Annett.

"Was comfortably riding with them for the first 30km or so when my bike started shifting all over the place on its own😭 I stopped once and reset it and it seemed to work.... for a very short time. I was pulled over for a few minutes thinking my day was done when tech showed up. They played around with it and determined that my blip box was shorting out from the storm we had last night. They managed to get my front derrailer in the big chain ring, took the battery out and disconnected the cords"

https://www.instagram.com/..._options_share_sheet

Thanks for posting this...I'm so sorry for him. This is a super respectful, heartfelt message that is worth the time to listen to. As we head into the election season (in the US) and all I see are negative ads full of half-truths and untruths - this clear, honest message really resonates positively to me. I was pretty neutral about Kienle before, but much more 'connected' to him after viewing this. I don't know what happened to his bike - but his response to adversity is first class.

Sebi is such a class act. I feel for the guy on this one.

Maybe silver lining as he had heel/Achilles problem too that cropped up in last 3 weeks.

Yes, hope he comes back stronger...I had a version couple years ago Haglunds syndrome. Luckily I went to podiatrist who was former figure skater and had it before from tight shoes or skates. Hurt like heck but fix was so cheap and simple.....next years race could be even better with Wurf, Gomez, frodo back, chastened sanders and another 10 or so to challenge Lange. G

Wow glad I put this on Youtube thanks for the views crew.

There is some talking about di2 in this thread but I think Kienle rides eTap.
The 2nd in the M50 had the same issue, he dealt with it in that he detached some buttons.
If Jen Annett also had eTap well than that is an enormous anti-advertising for eTap: already 3 people with eTap gone crazy: and these are only the known cases upto now.

Can’t speak for Etap but had a failure on the first gen Di2 RD when it shifted randomly from one day to another. Never happened again after change (knock on wood)
Read from someone else racing Saturday that his etap randomly shifted also and unclipped the extension shifters from the blip box to eliminate that.

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-shoki