so you think showing time splits means they cheated?

I am going to let you draw your own conclusion, but it seems to me unless they were Siamese triplets or were riding the bike below, that something fishy was going on:

Because the times are consistent does not necessarily mean they rode in a peloton. I have done MC duty with the pros and have seen similar splits and know they were not drafting, because I was pretty much with them the whole race, as well as some were also vocal about keeping media car/bikes away to prevent motodrafting.

Times are not necessarily indicative of a violation. I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. They may have paced each other, but pacing does not mean drafting.

Not saying it didn't happen either. But I could argue the point both ways

Interesting, but did you see them actually draft. They could have paced "legal" like the pros do in the Hawi expressed and saved themselves 20W or so and may have practiced that pacing together for months. Let's give the athletes the benefit of the doubt!

Def seems odd to me.

Drafting at WTC races where there are 2000-3000 people on course is rampant. I have seen the 100+ groups that form at IMFL although everyone claims they didn't draft yet some how pull a low 5 hour bike split. WTC doesn't clamp down hard on it because it helps thier business model. IMSG was canned cause it was 2 hard

I begin to think this is part of the appeal of big races that people can get away with it. Also with 3 guys they have 3 sets of eyes looking up and down the road for officials

you are singling out three guys and making a direct public accusation based sloley on bike splits ?

while the bike splits are identical , the swim splits are further apart, so they didnt even finish the bike together ... whats your horse in this race?

Well actually, they all got off the bike within 16 seconds of each other and each of their bike splits were all within a similar time frame. They were clearly together the whole time. Not saying they were drafting as they could just have been pacing each other.

Exactly. They could easily be pacing off each other and we should give them the benefit of the doubt....no different than Macca, Tissink, Bracht, VanHoenacker all riding back from Hawi in a paceline. At least this should be our starting assumption.

The two brothers even waited for Toon in T1. Toon obviously needs to shave 45 seconds off his swim time next race.

I think what sparked this was that someone in another thread mentioned being stuck with these three guys. Apparently, they were drafting and he kept passing them on the hills, only to be caught by them on the downhills and flats. Perhaps that OP can elaborate...

Well, there is also this eyewitness testimony: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...post=4102148#4102148

But maybe Zach, like Moira, is just a dog on the Internet.

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"Go yell at an M&M"

Didn't Zach Pratt post in another thread he rode near these guys and called them out?

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My money is on Toon starting the TT swim 15 seconds ahead of the other 2 brothers. The other brothers passed him on the swim and waited for him in T1.

Photos would be a much better means of accusation, and even then you wouldn't know if they were just passing or concertina'd at the time of the photo. Why does everyone on ST assume other people are cheaters/dopers/kona-slot-stealers? Edit: Just saw the eyewitness post. Oh well, still shouldn't be accusing based on similar times...

34.1km/h means you cover 9.4 meters in a second, so it's completely possible to have people finish 3 seconds apart and not be drafting.

I don't feel like finishing this math, but here's when they exited T1:
Stijn: 42:46 + 3:31 = 46:17
Toon: 43:36 + 2:54 = 46:30
Stefaan: 42:57 + 3:18 = 46:15

Assuming they are brothers or family, the less-accusatory interpretation is it seems like they probably just wanted to keep close together to support each other.

Another edit: None of the finisherpix shots of them seem to show drafting. They're usually in a pack, but they appear to be the right amount apart. Example:http://www.finisherpix.com/...358&currency=USD

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STAC Zero Trainer - Zero noise, zero tire contact, zero moving parts. Suffer in Silence starting fall 2016

Not when there are Kona spots on the line.........

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Ahh, split times. The modern man's spectral evidence.

Just a dog????

I'm here, I'll be your huckleberry...

Not only did they draft the entire way, but they didn't very blantantly. I was with them the whole way as were a few others that got sucked into their vortex. Including a pro female at the end, her last name Gross. There was another guy, wearing a Sally Meyerhoff jersey, that was sucked in too. Another local, Cliff Scherb was sucked in as well.

The twins and the other belgium indeed worked together, without enough spacing and a ton of blocking. They were warned by the marshall at the begining of the race but we never saw the marshall again after that.

The one twin was obviously better than the others as he would ride past me trailing another guy, then look back over his shoulder for his twin brother and then sit up because the brother wasn't staying on the train. This caused the nasty blocking vortex on hills and would force myself and others to stand up and double the efforts to get around them all and each other to create enough space as not to block or draft. It was exhausting doing this for 5 hours.

Check my splits, they are going to be roughly the same.

Oh yeah, and they have no idea how to do 180 degree turns as they just about stopped at the turn arounds.

My only bitch about it is that it ruins any plans of trying to keep a steady effort up hills when they block like that. I'm happy they got to Kona based on working together, even though it was very illegal. They didn't get caught, so they got lucky. But they but a hurting on me in my efforts to not draft nor block. My knees paid the price. I popped too many Aleve and my stomach and body shut down just after the bridge.

They didn't cause me to lose a Kona spot, that is my own fault. I really f'd up. But they certainly were about the ONLY negative thought I had about the whole race.

the spread in their bike splits is less than the spread in their swim times wise guy.

Go look at their splits for the various timing mats along the route - not the split time, the total time - and you will see that what I said was true. Wise guy.

Zach, sorry to hear about how their tactics not only benefited them but messed up the racing of others in the near vicinity.

No, they got into T2 together.

I admit, it was pretty cool to see them work together on the run.

If they hadn't drafted and blocked so badly, I would be their biggest fan. Obviously in good shape. Obviously work well as a team. But they did it the wrong way on the bike.

Maybe drafting and blocking are looked at a bit differently in Belgium, the mecca of road races and crits.

Where can i find me a Belgium at IMLOU?

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2016:
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