He posted on Twitter that he did it as a relay in a Monaco IM. Mark Renshaw is on fire right now. Is this a good time, better than a triathlete?
Discuss,
Ken
Where to being on this one. First, the race was a 70.3, so his comment that he (or his team) did an Ironman is a little off. Second, their time of 4:26 would barely get them in the top 20 based on last years results. And those are folks who swam, biked and ran, as opposed to biked and twittered. Full results for this year’s race are not in but it looks like a lot of guys are going to go sub-4:26 this year as well.
The fastest male pro bike split was Axel Zeebroek in 2:29:24… Wonder how Renshaw did? His name does not yield any results on the Athlete tracker…
http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/monaco70.3/?show=tracker&rid=257&year=2009
Renshaw was on the Aussie Aussie Aussie team that finished in first. His apparent time for the bike was a 2:28:05 which was apprx the second best relay bike split. The number one split was a 2:24 by the french team VIP ENFANTS DE FRANKIE 1 where the biker was a Confidis rider (i believe Sebastian Portal). Relay results are available
http://www.monaco-ironman.com/indeximmc.htm
As an earlier poster noted, the winner of the full 70.3 tri did a 2:29:24 and i think the best bike split other than the confidis rider was the number 2 finisher of the full 70.3 who did a 2:25:47. Other than that if you look at the finishers of the full 70.3 numbers 3 through 30 you’ll see bike splits from 2:30 to 2:47. So although renshaw is a pure cyclist to say that his time wasn’t amazing because the top two finishers of the whole race did apprx his time is unfair especially cause the training is so different. I doubt that any of the monaco 70.3 top 30 finishers could go race the Giro and then the Tour de France in 2010 and you also don’t see any 90km time trials in the Giro or TdF.
All that said, Renshaw and the Confidis rider passed me between the 10th and 14th km of the bike and seeing them in their team kit and on their bikes was one of the coolest moments i’ve ever had in a tri. Seeing their bikes in the bike area after the race was also a real treat. Hopefully more of the pro cyclists come out to these events and inspire the avg and basic athletes on.
Alex Wurz from the McLaren F1 team was also racing in the relay and he biked apprx 3:05 i think.
So although renshaw is a pure cyclist to say that his time wasn’t amazing because the top two finishers of the whole race did apprx his time is unfair especially cause the training is so different. \
I’m not picking on you here, but I do have to comment on your take here. So the real triathletes, who are not close to being the best in our sport beat the pro cyclist by two minutes while they have to swim, do a T1, then pace the bike for a run and T2, and you prop up the cyclist?? Ya they do not train the same, the cyclist does a ton more cycling than the triathletes, and at a much higher intensity…Ya that is a real disadvantage to the bike split? Remember we are only comparing bike times here, and the relay guys get to tag a hand and hammer from the get go, and fall off their bikes at the finish completely exausted. The triathletes of course have to swim first, pace the bike, and then run a half marathon. ANd these were the top guys in this race, not a sandbagging great cyclist that might split well on the bike, but finish well down the standings. And these are guys I do not even recognize, so journeymen in our sport…
I think I would hold up how well they did against the pros from cycling as a tribute, not the other way around…I just found it funny because in all the other pro cyclist vs pro triathlete threads, they use the fact that cyclists do long rides in their races, are often in super long breakaways, as to why they would be good long distance tt’ers…You seem to use the opposite argument…
2:29 by a Div. 1 pro cyclists for a HIM split makes me think that must have been one REALLY tough and technical bike course. I’ve done a 2:13 HIM relay split and a few in the 2:15 range on a course through rolling terrain with some really crappy pavement. I’m a very long way from being a pro cyclist and 50 is a few years in the rear view mirror. Cervelo3, who posts to this forum sometimes, recently did something like a 2:03 relay split, but that was in northern Indiana where you can tell if the waves are high on Lake Michigan from 25 miles inland. (Here’s a winky 
for Cervelo3 in case he reads this.)
It’s hard to believe that a Div. 1 pro cyclists wouldn’t post a relay split that’s faster than the top individual bike split.
Tristan Valentin was the rider actually.
Benoit Z ran a nice 1.05 half also.
that course is, by a a HUGE margin, the slowest 70.3 bike course in the entire world. It is almost exclusively two huge climbs, followed by two huge technical descents. 2:30 is insane for that course- i dont remember my time, but i was around 3 hours on that course a few years ago, and i am a 2:20 flat course bike leg person normally.
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i gotta do that course!!!
(with a heavy disc and everything)
and remember hte y axis on that graph is in meters, not feet…
I present to you the american triple-t.
http://www.americantriple-t.com
A “fast” split on that course is 2:50.
Auburn is probably in the same difficulty range as the Triple T
Renshaw is a lead out man…a sprinter. He is a pro b/c of his 30s-1min power numbers, not his 10’ or longer numbers (which are probably nothing special, especially when combined with his w/kg).
Auburn announces 5500ft of climbing against 5000ft for Monaco. That said, Auburn isn’t technical, specially for anyone who’s ridden in the Monaco area, where it’s not like you can go downhill flat out with your hands behind your back.