One piece that caught my eye is that Mark and Steph kept saying that the Pro Series contenders who are here potentially stand to gain extra points vs other potential races, and that it affords their schedule some flexibility.
The second point is obviously true, but the first point still stands to be seen. If Kat or Blue decide they want to absolute prove a point, the other athletes could stand to actually lose points since its on time vs position. Kinda like how when Knibb showed up in Oceanside 2024 and despite not doing the Pro Series herself, ruined that race score for everyone else.
We’ll see what happens later in the season, but I’d wager that the winner’s performance here is likely to be stronger than in Kalmar or probably Lake Placid. Though on the women’s side, I can see Kat knocking it off once the win is in the bag (though she does have a tougher field so maybe they push her to the line) while Blu is the kind of guy who will still push with a 10 min lead just to prove a point.
Yes, I don’t think that there are good points here anymore than at Texas or Hamburg. Both those WPro races will be lit (Knibb/Matthews/Loevseth and Philipp/Loevseth/Derron?). IMLP looks like being the ‘easier points’ race. No athlete campaigning to get top ten will plan to race IM Sweden unless they ‘have to’ for a KQ (like Sodaro (validation) had to last year).
I guess your point is e.g. Texas being easier will cause less distance on the bike vetween the women? Maybe. But i could also see Kat/KB strolling it in as easily as possible to keep fresh for a long early season.
KB needs to get decent distance on bike and jog in a 2:45-2:47 for the win, if he is smart.
Knibb’s Oceanside dominance was the result of her dominance on hilly bike courses and just doing a normal run. She was at least 10 minutes faster on the bike than everyone else and ran just a little faster than Paula Findlay.
Is it an interesting strategy to see how fast he can make the bike and just run a much slower marathon and save the legs that abuse? I’d kind of like to for him to pull a Sam Laaaaaaaaidloooooow (Leroy Jenkins) on the bike and just see where that puts him on the run. Worst case among this crew, he ends up in 3rd instead of first (assuming he wisely takes a couple minutes in t2 just to recover if he’s smashed)?
His strategy should really be just to stay with Funk or whomever yolos off the front of the bike, trying to keep enough of a gap on any of the stronger runners coming from behind and then just run fast enough to cruise in the for the win.
Hanson’s really the only guy who stands a shot of outrunning him, and he’s too far back, though you probably don’t want to give Foley a glimmer of hope.
Just so I’m understanding- you think he maximizes his chances of winning Kona by going Leroy Jenkins and then “holding on” with the run to sorta use as a data point for Kona for what he can and can’t do? In that case, would you not basically want to run as fast as you can to get the ultimate data points vs blazing the bike and then jogging it in? I mean this would be the time line to do that type of “race strategy”, right? 7 months from the event. If your truly going Leroy Jenkins race plan, stick to the bit for as long as possible on that day to imo get the most “data points” from said performance.
I actually would wonder what a “patience” themed season of racing results would do to setup him up to be ready for the 1 day WC that seemingly has been amped up even since he won post covid.
The catch here will be to what degree does he want to eliminate the other guys from the pro series. Not too many guys here would be in the running anyway through the whole year, so his strategy would hopefully just get the 5,000 points and move on. In his mind, its Gustav and Caspar he needs to worry about.
At that point, who cares if Foley, Funk or Svenningsson has 4950?
Dear Mark Mattews I am sorry that the announcers only comments about you were directed at the amount you yell at Kat or about drinking etc. sadly it was an easy joke they used way too much I know you would not like the public to think of you as an alcoholic or you have a relationship with your wife of just yelling and screaming. Sorry man . That was not necessary by the commentators and they should apologize and hopefully avoid any future comments of those topics and focus on how well you two have done over the last couple years .
Again I don’t think it was far to you and you don’t deserve to be talked about like that in public. It was vey uncalled for . Congratulations I hope you do enjoy a few beers , it’s normal and doesn’t need to be a major talking point .
Well said, I guess McCloy has trouble stopping himself with this lad pub trash talk. Here’s a clip of MatthewsM standing by the side of the road, shouting ('cos whispering would fail) https://www.instagram.com/p/DVkIEfRADsY/
Yeah - let’s pile on Will McCloy by snowflaking on behalf of @Tritalkingfacts and then spend the rest of the season complaining about boring broadcasts
Very little comment so far on the effect of the extended draft zone on different athletes. Maybe in the pod?
Btw, why has the Taupo ‘live audio’ not been published? @Kyleglass91
