As usual, Macca as something to say. Unfortunately, he talks for the other and he is quite right. You need to read his last interview for triathlete.com. He has a HUGE influence on the ITU field right now. And he is right, people were racing for a TOP 10 at London and not a podium. Alistair Brownlee might be the only one with the attitude of WIN or DIE!
He is brilliant in both the physical and mental game of this sport, but seriously is just a born winner. That makes him special. I think athletically guys like Gomez and others are just as good. However, where he stands head and shoulders above everyone else competing is he wins in his racing style… The ITU has created a mindset amongst many of the athletes, coaches and federations that it is a running race that wins these titles. Alert guys: every time Brownlee has raced he has won on the bike, then delivered the fastest run. We were told prior to London that no one would escape on this course. RUBBISH!!!!!!! It is not the courses that allow breakaways…. If the world does not start seeing that it is the way both the brothers work off each other that feeds their success both in training and in racing, they will see gold and silver medals handed over to both these guys in 12 months time….
Alistair is riding the bike far superior than most of the guys in this field, and all of them continue to work more specifically on their runs…. Coaches, athletes and federations are going back and thinking that the sport is the same as it was last year. He has changed the game for sure. It is ride or die now. When you have a guy who is the best swimmer in the field, who is not scared to ride hard and has the fastest run on him, you need to start asking yourself some serious questions on how you’re going to take him down. Without drumming up the past, the great Simon Lessing held himself in very much the same light as Alistair does. He won four world titles with the same dominance as I see now with Alistair… He is inspiring to watch. I love his style, his up yours attitude and the simple fact that he does it his way and has shown that if you want to take him down, you better be prepared to blow to pieces in the attempt—because he races for the win with that attitude.
The advantage that these boys have right now is that the weakness in the ITU racers is not so much their bike strength but their attitude towards the bike. They are all scared to do too much work on the bike both in training and in the race, for fear of running badly. This has been created because of the drafting on the bike and really because in the past it has been the run that has won the races. But as I said in my last interview with you, sports evolve and I have watched this sport evolve for the past two decades. It is obvious where the flaws in the racing are, and the weaknesses that the racing has now. These guys swim like fish and all run well. The weakness is on the bike. Alistair and his brother have worked together to exploit this and will change the game. This is the future direction of the sport for sure. It is this old attitude from the other racers that has really made them extinct in their preparation, and picking up the pieces of the decimation that these boys are leaving behind that has seen them let their key bike work go, and this in itself has widened the gap between the Brownlees and the rest. Without being disrespectful, for the Brownlees it would be like being A-grade bike racers playing with the B-grade peloton….In London you saw that perfectly, and like every race, the group chasing looked at each other and no one had the courage to take up the chase because they feel everyone else should do it…. It was beautiful to watch and unless these guys start thinking outside the box, start working out how to counter this, and start having the courage and the balls to race with the same sort of win-or-die-trying attitude, they will continue to be made to look pretty average by these guys!
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Paula is talking about her situation at London. She was not hiding and we love her spirit.
I’m not sure what made me think that I could possibly race a full triathlon on Saturday, but my competitiveness and love for racing made me determined to at least start the race. Of course my expectations were much lower than usual, and I promised to pull out of the race the second that I felt that I was making the injury worse. For some reason I thought that just maybe I could squeeze out a top 8 to secure a spot on the Olympic team. The truth is, coming into the most competitive race of the year severely underprepared is a bad idea. Also, going into a race uncertain if you’ll be able to finish makes it very hard to mentally prepare for success. Still, I wanted to be familiar with the course incase I’m back for the Olympics next year and take as many positives out of the experience as I could.
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| Component Weights by Group (in grams) | ||||
| Dura-Ace Di2 | Ultegra Di2 | Dura-Ace Mech | Ultegra Mech | |
| Rear Der. | 225 | 270 | 166 | 189 |
| Front Der. | 124 | 165 | 67 | 89 |
| Levers | 255 | 313 | 379 | 447 |
| Brakes | 293 | 317 | 293 | 317 |
| Cranks | 735 | 790 | 735 | 790 |
| Cassette | 163 | 209 | 163 | 209 |
| Chain | 252 | 267 | 252 | 267 |
| Other | 172 | 151 | 94 | 94 |
| TOTAL | 2219 | 2482 | 2149 | 2402 |