The other big race in Europe last Sunday was in Nice and, boy, was it toasty. Everyone was slow—that includes me.
Ok swim, slow ride, slow run, but everyone was slow so I still qualified for the WC.
(Very) long race report is here.
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Thanks for sharing up close your race. Impressive that you did so well despite the heat. Seems like you were more accepting of it than trying to beat it. You also seem incredibly well organized! its one aspect that has always held me back. I just cant deal or manage all the in and outs of racing these days. I’ll be spectating at the WC, ill be rooting for you.
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Great race report!!
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Slow? I don’t think so! Great job with the race and the report.
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I’m with you on the organization side. I only race once a year, not enough to remember what needs to go where and when. I have all sorts of checklists to try to stay afloat.
We’d be much better inspired to race marathons. Pack your shoes and a race belt and you’re good to go! 
See you in Nice, hopefully …
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Thanks for the detailed race report, since I’ve never done the course before.
Your bike time still seemed pretty solid given the gearing you were using and the heat.
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Aaah, the almost lost art of writing good race reports. Thank you!
And congratulations on a strong performance and well deserved qualification! I think I know what that run did to you, having raced Nice three times, and suffered miserably in the heat almost every one of 3x42.2 km of shuffling.
But September will be different, yeah? Which leads me to my question: have you seen anything to suggest that the run course will be changed? I’m asking because it’s categorized as “rolling”. Out to the airport and back is a lot of things, but certainly not rolling!
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Great race report - enjoyed reading, thank you. And congrats on your race 
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Hi Arnaud,
First of all, thanks for the detailed report. It really is nice after many years of trying to get that slot outright (in a way like you I had several misses, two rolldown slots and finally one outright) to Kona (back when that’ was the only place).
My friend David Janvier won M55-59. His swim was 20 min faster than you and run 20 min slower. I was surprised that David “only” ran 4:0x (he should be more like 3:40 max) but now I see based on your report the carnage out there. In 2010 there was a similar day for me at IM Nice. I think I got to the top of the bike split around 55th place, descended to get to T2 just around 30, and moved myself to 15th or so and there was an insanely massive rolldown and I got a slot because 45-49 was one of the biggest age groups and there were a few older age groups with no finishers beating the bike cut off on a 37C day!
In any case, that bike course looks really tough in the heat. Is this the identical course to the worlds course which I believe is harder and longer than the course we previously did on the “regular Ironman France” as the bike times look a lot slower (for context I biked 5:37 in Nice and 5:230 in Kona same year but I am more of a power to weight athlete vs super aero).
Was the swim entry and exit super rocky?
One more question is the overlap between the 140.6 bike course and 70.3 course. I am HOPING to qualify for 70.3 Worlds 2026 (its a big hope, I need all the help on rolldown), but assume that its around 1200m climbing on the 70.3?
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Thanks for your reply, Dev. I met David at the award ceremony–small world! Yes, the day was brutal but he also said that he got some splits on the marathon and that when it was clear that the second-place in M55 wasn’t going to catch him he took it easier.
I call some of my near misses on KQ slots near misses but if memory serves, you had one that was mere seconds, right? Goodness.
I heard the old timer say that the bike course has changed compared to the historical one, yes, but I don’t know how.
The 70.3’s is identical to the full’s for quite a bit. Yep, 90 km and 1,200D+.
Good luck qualifying for Worlds!
Hey Arnaud the current IM France bike course appears to have 300m MORE vertical than the 2010 course that I did but appears to be around 5 km shorter (that one was 175km if I recall correctly). Gaining 300m in 5 less km would make it a ton slower.
Just this morning David Janvier was bugging me to join him in Mallorca 2026. If I thought I need all the help I can get to qual in North America, in Mallorca I’d be 100th place on rolldown with the new system, but having said, that a trip to Mallorca just to race there seems good enough. Normally I go for a spring race down south to USA, but until tensions soften, I am spending my money in Canada or Europe which gives me an opp to do races I have not done (such as Mallorca or the June Nice70.3…but I think I have to hurry up to register).
Your marathon on such a hot day is awesome. That course in Nice on a hot day is both brilliant and punishing, but coming back from the airport on lap 4 is like glory. On lap three it’s just brutal because there are all these people finishing and you have one lap to go. I find leg 3 on a 4 leg event very taking. Does not matter if it is 1 mile on the track, 100-150m in 200 fly, 100 breast in a 400IM and off course the 22-34 km range in a marathon. The pain is really setting in and you can’t even sniff the finish line.
and yes, Wildflower 1996 I missed a kona slot by 8 seconds when it was a Kona qualifier. I raced in the regular age group waves but there was an elite age grouper wave back then. I just was intimidated by all the California guys so did not even ask to register in that wave (which I should have). I ended up swimming and bike and running all alone from my 30-34 wave, and everyone in my age group faster than me was racing in the “elite wave” against each other. The last guy blew up on the run was ran a 1:35 and I was virtually closing fast and ran 1:28. Results went up and I was the first guy not going to Kona missing by 8 second and then realized all the guys who beat me I never even got to race them head to head.
For fairness reasons, that system no longer exist (pro wave, elite age group wave, then each of 5 year age group waves). It’s more fair with rolling start !!!
Arnaud, a few more questions reading your report
- I see you had a pretty deep front wheel. How was it on the decents. When I did it I had a zipp 404, but I would be nervous on my current 70mm front wheel
- Where do you live and did you have a lot of heat. I live in Ottawa Canada, and all my heavy training was done by end of May in the colder temps. By the time I was tapering the heat arrived but that was not enough to get me ready for the heat and sharp sun at Nice. How did you find that?
Agreed. It was my first 4-lap marathon course after a whole bunch of 3-lap ones (Texas x6, Switzerland x2). I like the multi-lap format but four is a lot. To me, the first one was particularly trying, when you see the markers (5km, 15, 25, and 35) and know you’ll see them again and again. Goodness.
As for your other choices, I applaud you. Plenty of options for good races in Europe (and Canada, I’m sure).
Goodness, 8s.
I rode a HED Vanquish RC8 84mm with a 26mm Conti 5000 in the front and a Vanquish pro disc with a 28mm Conti 5000 in the back. Both at 5 bars.
5 bars is probably too high, and I’ll probably get a 28mm in the front for the WC but with the same setup. (I could go 606 or HED’s 84mm front and back, but no need)
There were only a couple of times where I felt a little challenged with handling, but minimal. I never felt that the front wheel was limiting me in the decent.
Thanks for the kind words, x-chain!
No, I haven’t seen any indications that the course run will be changed … and the current setup is hardly rolling ( flatter than flat). I suppose they could make it rolling if they had us run on the other side of the Promenade Des Anglais, to the port and back. There’s a hill on the way there. But I haven’t heard anything about that.
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They could take worlds up and loop thru Colline du Chateau but that takes it firmly from flat not even to rolling but major difficulty, This is the view from the top looking west at T1/T2 finish line and current run course to airport
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That was my first thought/hope too, when I saw “rolling”. And perhaps even one further: the Mont-Boron beyond the port. But then, as you say, “rolling” would be just as misleading 
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The “rolling” mention is most likely just an overlook (perhaps copy-paste from Kona?) as the map shows the regular run course.
