…or at least expect a podium? What about Bjorn, Clas an Gordo?
Richard
Also, anybody heard about Luc Van Lierde preparation?
Richard
I’m pretty sure Gordo is not - according to his website.
Styrrell
No, but I though he was moving to short course! He will either DNF or be in the top 3
The only news we have in Belgium is that Luc vl is not injured for this moment and that he will participate i Hawai.
also watch out for last year surprise Rutger Beke.
DeBoom and Macca. They go one-two, just not sure in which order.
I would guess there are about 20-25 who are going with the expectation that they could win, if everything goes well.
ME!!! I wonder what the odds are since I noticed no one picked me in the Kona pick thread 
Thanks for the info! I’m hoping for hard conditions and a real war…
I’m from Belgium and Luc Van Lierde has training verry hard the past weeks. First in Lanzarote and than in San Diego, like in his best days. His trainingresults are back like thE old days and his running even faster then ever!!! But it’s still 10 days to the race and with Luc everything can happends in those days. When he make it to the start with no injury than…?
Well, thats a good news! Let’s hope he stays healthy and gives us a good show.
well…my friend Mark Van Arkeren will be first or 2nd out of the water!!! remember the name…number 1747 in the 18-24 age group.
(for top ten, not for the podium)?
How about R. Rovera? Galindez? Luota?
What happened to him at Moo? He was first out of the water, but then I lost track of him during the rest of the day.
Should be interesting. I would love to see someone aggro like Al Sultan do something special and take a podium spot.
Wow! It’s great to see all the comments about Luc van Lierde. He is by far my favorite racer! Many of the other top guys seem “okay,” but Luc is the only one that I actually ROOT for.
I guess he always seems like such a class act, in addition to being extremely talented. Here are some photos of him winning an olympic distance race earlier this summer… encouraging another competitor on the bike, and finishing hand-in-hand with his son.
http://www.leietriathlon.be/foto/2004/latem/deel2/latem%20(254).htm
http://www.leietriathlon.be/foto/2004/latem/deel2/latem%20(439).htm
As far as the win… I think Luc may be a little conservative and shoot for a solid finish. Many of his sponsorship deals are up this year, I think, and he may want to solidify himself as a top contender again (e.g., top-3 or top-5) as opposed to going for an all-out win and risk blowing up. A dnf at this point wouldn’t give the sponsors much confidence.
So, how about doing a similar rundown of the ladies race? I’m too lazy to read up on it all and I don’t follow the other races very closely (besides, Slowtwitchers have the best insight!!). Who’s the favorite (Lori and Natasha?). Who else has a chance?
D.
I’ll bet he’s not first out of the water this year. He might have the fastest swim time, but starting 15 minutes behind the pros I doubt he’ll win the swim.
I got to go with last years podium–Bowden, Badmann, Kraft. It’s hard to say whay kind of shape Lori might be in and off of her lucky Cheetah so that could leave a spot for somebody.
Heather Fuhr has not shown the results of last year, but that could be late season motivation for her. Lisa Bentley raced less than last year so she could have something left for Kona.
For surprises I’m looking south–Kate Major, Belinda Granger, and Joanna Lawn.
Thuerig? can she run after all those TT results. Kehr?
Francois
Would you please be so polite to educate. I understand your picks,a question though. If you threw out strategy and went back to the 80’s(the scott and allen years,ok 90’s to)where the stategy was less and it was go as fast as you can. Would your picks change? Who would you then pick? Is there a difference? Thank you Kenney