Mika Noodt too. Good field!

The SOF for Vieux Boucau Challenge race is 86.43 which seems to be the highest half for the year (only the 70.3 WC got a higher SOF) so although this is only a silver event, the winner can expect to earn around 86 points which is probably one of the last opportunity to jump a spot for the PTO yearly bonus on the half distance.
Margirier has already had 3 good results and is mainly going after the challenge yearly bonus= 25 K a decent amount for a young athlete.

I am derailing the thread but the 2 next IM races will also have the highest SOF
M Cascais- Portugal on Saturday has a 87.71 SOF with Lange, Mignon, Heemeryck, Stratmann (3d at 70.3 worlds), Wurf, Svenningson, Aernouts, Madsen, Taagholt, Amberger. It is the last broadcasted IM for the year. Lange needs a win to keep his 4th spot in the PTO ranking which still counts his Israel IM from 2022.

IM Florida has a SOF of 87.46 with the following start list
Ditlev, Von Berg, Chevrot, Skipper, Barnaby, Marquardt, Horseau, Hanson, Wurf and Hogenhaug


those 2 races look like IM race series. I think that next year many europeans will race Texas (only early race) and Placid (only hilly course in the series) and apart from Marquardt, Von Berg and Long, few American look like contenders.

Margirier was also the guy that outbiked Ditlev, Frodo and Blu at the US open. He is an absolute beast of a cyclist and can run well too.

Thanks for the analysis. I suspected that Vieux Boucau and Portugal were two of the better non-world-championship and non-PTO Tour fields this year.

Are you tracking this on your own or is this information available somewhere? I don't see Florida on the PTO upcoming races list yet.

I wish the PTO results were sortable by SOF or at least by tier.

For @jwmott: IM Florida start list at https://files.constantcontact.com/...f1a-ebe0cebffe97.pdf and easy to average the top ranked 5 to get SOF.
I'd add (still off topic):
1) For the winner to score 86 in ChallengeVieux Boucau they'd have to finish 5 minutes ahead of third: quite a strong shout given field strength.
2) wrt IMs Portugal and Florida, PTO scores will mostly be enhanced by +5%.
3) Like Lange, Chevrot also needs a replacement score for his IM Israel 2022 (but at only 74, this will be 'easy' at Florida' if he races to form).
4) Think almost every athlete who aspires to finish high in the IM Series will race IM Texas (27 Apr). Results in two IMs plus the IMWC will be required to place in the top bracket (where the money is).

1- you're right, i looked at this starting list and made the calculation
I saw that on average the results is a couple of pts higher than the SOF for silver races. So 86 is actually possible although i did not know about the gap with the following athletes.

2- 5% for most of them, yes :only for those who will have their higher IM result except for WC and Roth. Here what the PTO website shows:'' In order to more fairly reward athletes whose focus is on full-distance races, an athlete’s single best full-distance (FD) score within the Bronze, Silver or Gold tiers garners a 5% bonus'', many already have a bonus IM result and are only trying to better it.

3- Yes, Chevrot needs a result and so does Skipper who won IM Arizona last November, for both of them their 3rd result for 2023 are 4th and 3rd at half distances which put them at the 24th and 30 th place for 2023 only results.
Rudy can also improve as his 3d result is a 22nd at PTO Ibiza, Barnaby can also go up in the ranking as can Marquardt who is pretty consistent and whose 3d result is his CdA with a lower SFO.

4- Yes, Vitoria is a good option as it puts 11 week after TX and 15 before Kona. Frankfurt being 5 weeks after Vitoria, some will race both races i think. A consequence of the series is that it will have a TdF flavour in that before Kona we will know how much of a gap an athlete needs to win the big(ger) race or if he needs to go to NZ to make up for the difference

PTO World Rankings Explainer page here: http://www.protriathletes.org/...orld-ranking-system/
"Challenge Vieux Boucau [is a 'Silver'] race with an SOF of 86.43 " (NB assumes the top 5 ranked on start list actually start)

Baseline Score = 83.21 (average of 80 Tier Base Points (silver) and SOF of 86.43)
Baseline Time = 3:40:57 (based on average of top 5 finishers: 3:37:17, 3:38:32, 3:40:31, 3:43:37, 3:44:49)[Timings from a previous race , used in link above]
Race Time Score for 1st place athlete= 93.18 (Faster than Baseline Time by 1.66% * 6 points = 9.97 points, 83.21 + 9.97 = 93.18)
Would give winner 86 ranking points exactly (3:37:17 with their delta of 3 minutes 40 seconds)

Quite a stacked field today thread starter, three races in three weeks and if he manages to win this one, how about removing the 'doubts' from the thread title?

Can continue to use this as the generic Ali Brownlee thread.

Looks like a leading group of 6 half way through the bike (Brownlee, Margirier, Noodt, Funk, Bogen and Royle).

It’s quite a stacked field for a race this time of year. Wondering if some of these athletes need to race for PTO points or something - I bet Brownlee does. Makes for good racing at a time of year when there is not much going on.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Brownlee starting the run with Margirier, Bogen and Noodt (all three are top 4 in this and last year's 70.3WC).
https://www.klikego.com/...0810&detecteur=8

Well that does not look good. 15 minutes ago second place, just finished 6th nearly 6 minutes down. Gosh I hope everything is OK.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Yea hope it's not another reinjury but not much else explanation unless it's stomach issues or just the mental of 3 races in 3 weekends (unlikely)

Results (in order): Margirier, Noodt, Bogen, Royle, Funk & Brownlee.

Hope 3 races in 3 weeks wasn't a step too far for Ali.

Margriee winning by one second!

Margirier' s ranking is so high (his lowest PTO score is a 89.48) that he is only going for the Challenge bonus of 25K
With his win, he almost won it for good. Great end of the season for him.

By the way, he is tied with Heemeryck with 91.19 for both, yet he is ranked lower. Does anybody know why. Maybe because he does not have a 'full' result whereas Heemeryck does?

Heemeryck currently leading IM Portugal-Cascais by 1:30 30K in.

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Let food be thy medicine...

I am looking at the race on the french L'Equipe TV which has a stream showing the race, Leon Chevalier is doing the commentary which is quite good and more interesting than the Ironman one and no advertising and no constant pushing of the sponsors which is great.

Heemeryck had a great race, he lost the leading group on the bike and was 6' 10 behind at T2. Now that is spot is secured, he could race the PTO series and go to Kona as well. Like Margirier
Dylan Magnien, yet another frenchmen is on the way to qualify. He races like Chevrot, good swimmer, average rider who usually hides in packs and great runner.

Lange will run slower than those 2 and seems to have received a penalty. Chevalier said that he was often camping at this tent ! Lange ranking will be negatively impacted for the PTO ranking and shoud go down a couple spots, his 3d result was a 75 and this result will not improve it much.

Marjolaine Pierré should win the race by several minutes.

What happened with Coninx??

Ali just post this...

'Another tough race day with tough weather and even tougher competition at Challenge Vieux Boucau🇫🇷

Wasn’t feeling my best but was enjoying being out on the course and closing in on the lead in the late stages of the run. Didn’t feel quite right on the last lap so decided to jog it home to not put myself at risk for future races after the year I’ve had.

Hats off to Mathis and Mika for an awesome sprint finish. 👏

- Alistair'


Is finally getting sensible in his old age?

Worried he's losing that will to win though that give him in edge on everyone else?

Heemeryck's score in Portugal (my calc 85.3) is lower than his Tallinn score (86.9) even taking into account the 5% wheeze (with 5% it's less than his Hamburg score of 89.8 (by tenths) and you can only have one 5% bonus). However he is shown ahead of Margirier on the PTO Rankings table: this will be by 1000ths (not shown and nothing to do with the IM) and worth £10,000!

Tbf he has gone from one race in May to surgery to three in three weeks, potentially his most packed racing schedule he’s ever done.

I think he squeezes in an IM before years end to qualify

Well at least it does not sound like his ankle exploded again. 3 races in 3 weeks is frankly a bit stupid given he is just coming back - but you can’t tell the guy he just wants to smash everyone and win. My fingers are crossed he has a great off season and hits next year hard - assuming he is sensible enough to have an off season. Who knows.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

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Not so sure about him racing a full before the end of the year.

A PTO contract would be more sensible. I think that him and Lionel Sanders are likely wild cards, as they can bring something to the table. Yet, i think that Sanders would need someone like Long to help him race from the back which (if the broadcast is good with several cameras and splits) can bring some intrigue to the longer 'boring' part of the bike

Completely agree, it's weird cos Ali has one of the best triathlon brains and uber intelligent, but comes back from an almost career ending injury few year period, lost count how many operations he's had.

Then races three races in three weeks! I'm actually quite optimistic he's possibly over the worst of it if he's decided to do a ridiculous amount of racing.

Anyone know how Alistair Brownlee is at the moment? Race ready?