Start list (as at 2nd June)
Bibs/athletes withdrawn/DNS: LCB, Hofmann, Jansen, Derron
Youtube
Race starts at 06:15 local (CEST), 05:15 in the UK (BST), 00:15 on USA East Coast and Saturday 21:15 on USA West Coast.
Bike course - I don’t think they are using the road where the moto driver died as two way - I may (of course) be wrong. The loop at the far end of each (of two) laps is just that: a loop.
Swim: Unlike last year when, after Clutterbuck DNSd, there were zero good swimmers: this year there are several and there will be a decent gap to Loevseth and Philipp.
Lawrence, Wilms and Langridge will break away. If Lee swims well she could even be with them or back with Perterer. Otherwise I expect a sizeable main pack.
Bike: In the same way as Matthews tried and failed to drop Philipp last year, I expect Loevseth will aim to do the same: drop her, and will succeed. They’ll sweep up others in front once onto the second lap (and amateur dodging). If Pierre can reproduce her Nice form on the bike it’ll be between her, Perterer and Lawrence for next in. And we saw Lawrence excel with #4 at T100 Spain, what’s more that was with her focus on Hamburg. Curran is another in the mix (already KQ).
Run: Philipp, on the evidence from Aix, may not be back to her top run form. One assumes Loevseth will run at least as fast as last year: 2:46 (she ran 2:49 with no pressure at IM Texas). So the gap will dictate whether Philipp feels she’s within range and prepared to dig deep. Roth (in 4 weeks and sub-8) will be in her mind when the going gets hard.
With 6 KQs on offer, Philipp, Perterer, Lawrence, Lee, Pierre are not KQ and the best five. Maybe Brunnee or Langridge for that last KQ?
IM Pro Series points will be important for Loevseth. A win or close will set herself up for the win, unchallenged. Wilms and Curran are the only other athletes who will be well up in the Series: for both this is their second IM. Wilms was #3 in IMNZ and Curran raced Texas.
Forecast for rain/drizzle all day and 14oC air for the swim rising to 21oC for the run: benign. Very light breeze.
ProTriNews chat (at 51:45):
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