In Oceanside it felt like Blu lost a win there, but watching early in this race, dont think anyone was going to beat Lionel today. Closing that gap to the front so fast and so early, well he was just outriding everyone, and by quite a bit. But of course he suffered on the run, but 1;11 after that ride on that run course, well he suffered pretty dam fast…
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Couldn’t figure out why everyone said Ditlev was the favourite. When’s the last time he won a 70.3? I guess T100 Miami last year, but LS was ready for a battle and didn’t even get it.
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Magnus wasn’t good enough. Lost a minute on the first part of the course (Lionel was 1min behind after the swim and Magnus only got flat tire after Lionel caught them), which was before the real climbing had even started (where Lionel in w/kg is probably best of anyone in Ironman). And does anyone really believe Magnus beats Lionel in a 70.3 run with lots of climbing? So please don’t say Lionel was lucky, honestly Ditlev was lucky to have an excuse
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I think a brush up on statistics 101 may be in order 
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I didnt say that, in fact the opposite. I agree with you… (-;
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Ditlev looked like he was in the middle of a 35 hour week training block, because he probably is. He has IM Frankfurt June 29th, which I suspect he will be more ready for.
Being that he is absolutely going for the win in the ironman series, and knows some very big hitters are also going for that title, no way he did not rest for this race and have it as one of his A races. Hard to know if he was having a really off day, or just a so so one that got punted after getting a couple wheel changes. A bad result(which he had) means he probably has to add another half somewhere that he also has to rest for…
It was not a train through race for him, he is the sort that always shows up with his best…
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Fair enough, its always hard to make judgments from one early season race result. I just think he is a much higher volume athlete than Lionel, which can result in being flat on race day if you don’t get your taper right. Lionel is never going to be a sub 7:30 Ironman athlete on 21 hours per week, but I do believe he has mastered the art of training and tapering for high performance in multiple 70.3 races over the course of the year.
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The one thing I hope Lionel got help and has figured out is the IM nutrition thing.
I was VERY surprised Jan and Dan didn’t appear to have helped there.
If it were his first race, yes it would he harder to evaluate, but it wasnt, and his first race was out of the park. And you are right in that he probably trains 15 hours a week more than Lionel, they each specialize in different distances. Of course there is a huge crossover to half’s and fulls, and a small tweak is all it takes to move up or down. I look forward to Lionel’s next attempt at a full, he seems to be at more peace with his training and racing than he has been in a long time. And also doing lifetime best at this age is pretty remarkable for someone that was so successful in their early career.
This has happened to just a few guys, they race several generations of great athletes. He basically raced the best of the 2000 teens, and now a whole new crop has taken over and he is still there going toe to toe with the new breed. Cameron Brown was another guy that maybe spanned 3 generations of top pros
For Lionel’s next video can you go over a few things on his bike setup.
It looks like he put himself in a bit higher front end setup and elbows forward, and maybe a bit back over the cranks too in his hips ( or just adjusting bit)? it’s hard to tell in live time. ( you tube rewatch min 22:22. which is probably yielding a higher more power and feels much better. Also is his plan or power showing he is over riding the first 30 minutes being very aggressive compared to other pace efforts.
I heard the pod and you guys mentioned the runs were slow but that’s because if the front rider ( Lionel) can make the runners over bike their goes their run legs. e.i Norman Stadler.
The PTN crew were telling Pat that Lionel and Magnus basically had the same kit except for the bike. Lionel should definitely go back to a green-themed trisuit. I’ve seen so many podiums this year with male pros basically wearing a white top and black bottoms whether it’s the Fusion, Wyn, Huub kits. I don’t know if the cooling effect of a white kit is significant, but Lionel should make trisuits interesting again.
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I think it’s pretty basic to have white top so sponsors are more visible. Not much self expression.
It also makes it easy to sublimate sponsors onto the kit…and no issues with the sponsor logo clashing with the kit design. Does make the kits a bit boring though; I almost miss MVRs hideous kit from last year.
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But with everyone on white, everything becomes too generic and it’s hard to distinguish which sponsor is in which athlete. A bit of color wouldn’t hurt:
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The top FUSION suit that Magnus uses has some color this year, and certainly it can be customized. I am still unsure if LS is on FUSION sponsorship already?
I actually like the new suits: simple and elegant.
The ones with color gradients are antiquated. MvR’s pink suit is fugly.
Why do NA athletes get slammed for not competing in Europe 70.3s but non-NA athletes get a pass for not competing in NA? After listening to Mark Matthews call out Lionel for only competing outside of NA a few times it got me wondering about the opposite view. #TLDR Not surprising it looks like they are ducking racing in North America. Maybe it’s international travel is hard or maybe they are just afraid to compete against Lionel on his home continent 
I took a look at the top 20 Pro Series athletes from 2024
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9 have never competed a 70.3 in NA: Hogenhaug, Kallin, Petersen, Hoffman, Shuster, Goeststouwers, Stepniak, Thompson and Pareyn.
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2 have competed twice
–Guillox has competed once and lost to Lionel in their only head to head in 22 Oceanside
–Barnaby has also competed twice but no head to head -
2 have competed 4 times
–Lange has the sole win of the sample group at 2014 St George and has lost twice in Oceanside
– Currie’s only head to head was last year in Oceanside -
Brad Weiss is the only one who doesnt seem afraid of North America competing 7 times and losing his two head to heads at 2021 St George and 2019 Augusta.
I also looked at 4 other athletes who were mentioned in posts as “missing” from the 2 NA wins this year: Wilde, Van Riele, Geens and Bergere. All 4 are Olympians so maybe they have good reason to duck NA races.
- Wilde and Van Riele have not yet competing in NA.
- Geens has 2 both loses at 24 Oceanside and 21 Indian Wells.
- Bergere took the win at 23 Oceanside (sans Lionel).
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What about St George 2021? Lionel passed him almost at the end of the run.