Bike racing/triathlon question

Triathlon Forum
1

The group ride thread had me thinking:

Of all the really fast riders in triathlons (The guys in the top 1 % for the bike split in big IMs or other big races) are there many that didn’t go through a stage as a bike racer? Or at least trained a few seasons with bike racers? Are there any that always trained solo or with just another rider or two? Seems like most of the best riders delved into some serious biking racing for a couple years, at least. Or are there lots of very fast riders who never road raced? Inform me, por favor. -TB

2

Hmmm. Good question.

I wager a lot of them participated in group rides and even some USCF (amateur level) bike racing but not on a professional level.

Interestingly, the guy who won the last 6 tours got his start in triathlons.

3

Actually, he got his start as a swimmer.

He just couldn’t hack it so he had to move on.

4

Also realize that road racing and the bike split in a tri are two different things.

The tri bike split resembles a TT stage, but triathletes do not ride in the peleton up and down the Alps or sprint. Nor are they involved with drafting and team tactics.

I would suspect that some of the fastest triathlon bikers might be able to do OK in a TT (for example Bjorn finished 6th or something in the Swedish national championships) but the road racer has to be a more complete package due to the nature of the sport.