Gulf Coast, ITU World LC Champs - Draft Legal?!

Has anyone seen the pictures from these races? I thought that draft-free racing meant, well. . . not drafting. Apparently I’m living in my own little world.

http://www.xtri.com/2003/05/924-4t.jpg

Gulf Coast picture on xtri.com

http://www.triathlon.org/world-champs/wch-2003/events/ibiza-ld-triathlon/gallery/fullsize/IBIZA_BI.jpg

http://www.triathlon.org/world-champs/wch-2003/events/ibiza-ld-triathlon/gallery/fullsize/IBIZA_B5.jpg

From ITU Long Course World Championships. www.triathlon.org

A few points:

  1. Typically sports photographers are using longer lenses which depending on the apeture used, tend to compress objects in the final picture ie. they appear closer together than they really are.

  2. Pictures are static - there may have been a fair amount of fore/aft movement of the cyclists relative to each other, in each of the pictures that can’t be picked up in a snap-shot. And that’s what officials are looking for - movement relative to other cyclists.

  3. I have heard it said that in Europe they are a little soft on the drafting calls compared to big races in North America.

  4. There are times and places in big competitive races when the no-drafting rules are asking the athletes to do something that almost impossible to achieve. There are simply too many cyclists on too little a stretch of road. You see this in almost all the big Ironman races about the 1:00 to 1:10 mark. It’s for the most part inadvertant drafting and again I have heard that officials often turn a blind eye to this.

Things tend to bunch up at corners, water stations, The start and the finish. Also the turn arounds tend to close gaps. I was at Gulf Coast and didn’t see any drafting.

Drafting is an event that happens over 15 or more seconds. I can take a picture of you that has you hanging off the bike in front of you (“you’re drafting!”). In reality, you entered the draft zone coming up directly behind the bike, took 5 seconds to pull up to his rear wheel; then you moved left, and successfully completed the pass in an additional 7 seconds. You were legal, in the zone for only 12 seconds and pass accomplished, but the static picture ‘showed’ that you were drafting.

Bob,

I think that I was trying to say with one of my points. Thanks for putting it in a my realistic picture.

The reality is that you can gain a significant advantage with “lega” drafting on the course as you have described. I have seen, very strong men age-group cyslists who are slower swimmer and pro-women using this technique to their advantage. It’s risky, as you may get a call from an offcial on it who can’t see that clearly, but as along as there is significant forward movement on the cyclists part then you should be OK.

aren’t all races with over 1000 people and limited course space draft legal now? …

That photo shows nothing. As others have pointed out, I don’t see a ‘paceline’ there, and there is no way to know if those are static positions, or there is a steady shuffle going on. I was at Gulf Coast, and I did not see any drafting, with is really surprising with the wind. I usually get pissed off at least 2 or 3 times from seeing someone sitting on a wheel in a race of that size.

I just got back from ITU worlds and though I did hear one or two stories I can say that in general the drafting was pretty well enforced and most folks played by the rules. In many areas (like the second picture) the course got tight and it tended to bunch up a bit. The first picture is the start of the main climb up and over into Sant Joan. This was another area where there was some bunching as people got their pace and tempo sorted out. By the top of this hill (the right hand bend) things were pretty pen and legal.

Fleck -

Yes, you did have it as point 2 - I figured an example might help.

As for the technique of coming up from behind being risky, the biggest risk comes up if there’s someone else that comes up to pass you after you’ve entered the zone of the bike in front. If that person now gets up on your left, you’ve lost the right-of-way, and you’re stuck on the right, in the draft. As Dan mentioned in his article, you don’t want to be pulling out to the left without knowing there isn’t someone there. It’ll get messy.

The ITU gives a stand down when you are caught drafting… it’s worth the risk of being caught to draft somewhat. Different rules

Yes, I take ruthless advantage of the rules, but from the other perspective. As the hundreds of cyclists pass me on the hill coming out of Lake Placid, I get a little draft from each one as he pulls away. I can tell you for certain that this effect adds up. In dozens of times around the Lake Placid IM course, I have never been within 10 minutes of my first lap time during my two races there. I am sure race day excitement, not having to carry supplies, and using my race wheels helps, but not 10 minutes worth.

As I write this, I have decided to try to become a much better swimmer in the off season. That way hundreds of cyclists will be passing me on the second lap too. I can use every boost I can get on lap two of that course.

Fallimg back in Florida,

I just talked to a friend who just got back from Worlds. He said it was a draft-fest. There were some patrols, but there were large drafting groups everywhere.

He also said the Euro’s are soft on drafting, as someone else already mentioned in this thread.

Mike

I just returned from the Ibiza race as a member of the press, and I was lucky enough to be on the back of a motorcycle for the bike leg. These pictures are accurate and I took some of my own that are very similar. The chase pack at one point numbered 23 riders and, though officials were riding right along next to the melee, they handed down very few penalties. Most of the time they were waving their arms at the riders, trying to instruct them to move into a staggered position.

The (few) penalties given were “black cards,” whereby the transgressor serves the penalty by running an additional 300 meter “penalty lap” at the end of the run. Interestingly, the officials may not have been handing out very many of these cards but one they did give made a big difference - Marcel Zamora of Spain lost his 3rd-place podium spot to Frenchman Xavier Le Floch while running the extra meters. That cost him $2250 in winnings.