Triathlon and Montréal World Series

The ITU is starting to understand the best way to improve a triathlon competition, making it more sophisticated, more equal in the three disciplines, and more attractive for viewers, but it got a little short.  The bike segment needs to be more suitable for bikers, in Montréal there were recovery time for the riders.  Segments were not hard and long enough between each other to allow riders to have a brake away.  Hopefully, the desired courses are on the way; something similar to Leeds. 

So far, outside Alistair Brownlee, there are no triathletes able to ride hard enough to have a breakaway in a course like the one in Montréal.  Javier Gómez did what he knows, he kept the bicycle pace rich because it was the way to keep competitors at bay.  Mario Mola practiced for the first time pulling the peloton, he could not run after.  He mentioned what he wanted to do in an interview; now he knows.  The French with the old tradition riding the bike were able to run what they are used to; born in 1995, 1993, 1990 respectively, to be in top nine.

It is incredible what one is capable of doing by riding the bicycle well.  We have the watts of Rigoberto Uran during the Tour de France and the difference in watts from his “domestiques” going up-hill:

This first KOM required high power outputs from all the riders. Looking at the discrepancy between Brown and Van Baarle vs. Urán on the climb, it is visible how effective the duo protected their Colombian captain.

With 395w, 6.08w/kg and 441w, 5.65w/kg they had to work hard while Urán in their shadow could stay at tempo intensity at 307w, 4.95w/kg. Teamwork in cycling at its best! Urán’s 10 minute peak power was 5.00w/kg—a low number compared to the previous stages.

COL LEBRAUT (5.1KM AT 5.5%) – KM26

Time / Speed           Power                      Power-to-Weight

Rigoberto Urán      11:00 / 28.3kph  307w        4.95w/kg

Nathan Brown       11:01 / 27.9kph  395w        6.08w/kg

Dylan Van Baarle  11:33 / 26.4kph   441w        5.65w/kg

The rest of the stage caused no difficulty for the whole team. No one was willing to take up the chase of the breakaway and consequently, the pace was very moderate.

For Urán, that meant 187w, 3.02w/kg for 4:42 hours. In the end, the field arrived in Salon-de-Provence, 12:27 minutes behind stage winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data).

The GC riders jumped on the opportunity of taking it easy for once and with the help of his teammates, the Colombian contender would save a lot of energy going into the critical time trial.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/stage-19-20-power-analysis-rigoberto-urans-road-glory/?utm_source=tpr&utm_medium=email&utm_content=nonuser&utm_campaign=20170725_weekly_news

As Mario Mola said in the same interview: “I cannot hide any more in the peloton.”  If he does not improve his cycling power there is no other way to win.  Murray played it safe this time, he did not pull the peloton.  Hopefully the ITU continues to improve bike courses and not back up as in the case of Huatulco where they change it to make it flatter and easier for our competitors, so they could not be lapped.