Favorites Come Through With Big Wins at WTCS French Riviera

What a great race! Loved having Vince in the commentary box. Super insightful

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Vince for the commentary was the only good thing about today.

I am probably in a minority but that course is not fit for a WTCS race. The coverage was terrible due to the narrow course. No visual coverage of 1st lap of bike. Moto dragging Hausers group along (Hauser would have won anyway). Graphics completely wrong. At one point showing Yee 2 seconds behind Hauser and Wilde 10 seconds behind on the bike when Yee was 30 seconds back. Commentators unable to update for long periods for timings.

The moto was better for the womens but they nearly took out the girl who dropped off the group and then got back on. When Rappaport was 4 seconds off the groups that came together the moto was between her and the group. You could hear her shouting.

Big groups coming into such a restricted T2 were dangerous. Athlete safety just went out the window.

Both runs it was only possible to follow the front pack. So disappointing for a top tier race.

We get better coverage on the French league racing!

Yes, general carelessness of moto-drafting and the moto management when the women’s chase group was closing in was poor. Didn’t seem to be pulled out at all. No grip, or ill-educated production/control team.
I agree trying to get reasonable coverage in such constricted streets was fraught with challenge/difficulty. Safety margins were low and relied too much on (tri)athletes’ bike handling skills.
Also agree Luis provided timely insights and forecasts of motives. He knows all the players and the dynamics.

Yes great races but horrible coverages. The women who make that select front group out of T1 really need to commit more, like the men did. They had their break and let it go, and certainly they had the bike firepower to make one stick.

Loved the commitment of the mens front group, starting at the gun. I’m sure Matt was quite happy to not start the run with Yee, although would have been fun for us fans to see that battle Royale. He really has stepped up his run game, and charging like the old Killer B’s used to from the get go. Does help that he gets several of the real bike hammers up in that top 10 too, all of which he can handle on the run.

And how about Spivey, running her way to a top placing, would have been even better with that early break sticking. Running toe to toe with Potter and others that usually put near a minute on her, well seems like some progress has been made there. Of course we have see it in the T100 series, but that is a different type of run, but now translated to a speedster type.

I feel for Summer, leading out the swim, only to be dropped from group to group, until she can just hang off the back of the biggest pack left. And not like she doesnt have bike power, but her handling and timidness just kills any chance she has to be in the mix anymore.

Just spent about 5mins looking for this thread, please dont change the thread title and definitely NOT to race a SPOILER!!!

Was good to see a break stick for the men, even if it did come at the expense of a dream return back for Yee.

A bit gutted Lehair couldn’t hold on for the win, but great home race for the French! Shockers from Potter and particularly Tertsch, considering GTB wasn’t too far off Lehair last weekend, does make you wonder if she entered the wrong race this weekend, weird seeing so much T100 equipment about, not a fan of seeing athletes run around overgrown tracks.

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The women and the men swapped roles. The women’s races are usually more interesting, with the field breaking up, and the men do a foot race off a 40-person group at T2. It was the opposite this time. Both provided exciting finishes though.

Wilde showed pure class in the post race interview when he refused to state the obvious (he underperformed because of fatigue from the day prior) and instead blamed his result on not being a good enough swimmer versus the field. No excuses, even when they’re there.

I thought the coverage was good, except for moto interference, and the commentary top notch. No need to b_tch about the fact that data from the last timing mat doesn’t always fit what we see on the screen. Show me a triathlon in which it aways does.

Fun fact. Slowtwitch now replaces some words with “This word is not allowed which means I’m not being very nice at the moment”. But the word fuck is allowed :rofl:

Alas, I forgot to feed my This word is not allowed which means I'm not being very nice at the moment! Female dog, that is!

Normally I would agree with you on the bike for Summer but she dropped off the front group into the second group. Then she stayed in the second group as the fought their way back onto the front group.

She was hanging off the back of that big group when a moto almost took her out and went between her and the group. Very quickly she dropped to 42 seconds. That wasn’t her fault it was the moto. However, I agree she is weak technically.

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Pre race Potter said she had just come down from her first ever altitude camp, so didn’t really know what to expect.
Probably raced too soon for her after altitude

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on it’s own, “Fuck” is one of my favorite words ( which is why it stayed ) :). but yes thanks to the Politicls is life Catagory we did add A LOT of words or phases you can’t say :slight_smile:

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The women in the second group had 4-5 people pulling for the entire ride, and while they aren’t as good of runners, they do ride stronger than the group in front.
Once the chase got it under 10 seconds the front group sat up. But not until then.

Ya I watched the entire race. I think the front group was just a bit too big, those breaks work better with about a half dozen or so much better. There was certainly the fire power at the front to stay away and gain time, but pulling passengers or soft peddlers just takes the impetuous out of the real hammers.

And there was a very strong runner they wanted to keep at bay, Periault got onto the podium, but needed the groups to merge. Chase for sure had some hammers, but chasing is so much easier than staying away when the front few who do most the pulling are fairly equal…

Matt Hauser is now appearing on the start list in Karlovy Vary.

I am pretty sure I saw his wife/girlfriend on the course yesterday so maybe they have decided to stay in Europe for one more race. Bit greedy when he has 3 from 3, but if you keep winning you are denying the opposition an opportunity to win 1000 points!

Well since he is not venturing out of the ITU scene like a lot of his cohorts, he has to make his living exclusively within that series. And of all the series going, this is probably the hardest to make the big bucks, so he is striking while the iron is hot, as is his form. And of course these short races are not like doing middle/long distance, you can recover in days and not weeks. It really is the travel that is the hardest on you, just depends on how you are with that. I actually loved it and embraced it, but did know a lot who it took a big toll on…

Who does he have to race for the win there? Seems like thus far only one guy has been able to hang to the final long sprint of his, Vasco is a tough MF’er for sure…

Yep, agreed. Loved the trio of Matt Baker (from T100), Vincent and Vicky.

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‘A fire has been lit’ maybe we’ll see Yee on the next start list??

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I missed Trevor, and although Helen has grown on me Vicky is a lot better.

I miss BS and telling us who he ate with for “supper” or who he ran into on the elevator and who was ready for a special day. It was still weird/odd how his removal went down.

(he may have been before your time as a triathlon fan though)

LOL Brooks, this is Peak Use of Initials even for your standards :wink:

I won’t state his full name and I feel sorry for you because you have no chance to even guess, but I still won’t

I wont lie half the time I use initials cus I may mispell a name and dont’ want to hear it from spelling nazi complaining; we all know who we are talking about no one is doing it intentionally or disrepectfully.