Why does Alistair Brownlee not have aerobars?

Andrewf20

Probably a weird question, but it struck me that the medal winning youngster never has them and I think Javier Gomez (2008 world champ) is the same in the itu triathlon championship. Are we missing a trick?

tunney

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Probably a weird question, but it struck me that the medal winning youngster never has them and I think Javier Gomez (2008 world champ) is the same in the itu triathlon championship. Are we missing a trick?

ITU draft legal racing. Traditional aerobars are banned, road bike set ups only.

mloc123

Alot of them use bridged stubbies I think but any of the races I have seen on TV the bike stage is a peleton from start to finish so I guess they are kinda pointless.

Andrewf20

They are allowed aerobars that dont extend beyond the dropped handlebars. Pretty much everyone else in the field has them. See here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23682749@N02/3759393538/

versus the man himself:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moff/3833842243/

Seems strange.

tunney

Not that strange really. Pack riding and the mens field is pretty much alwasy together until the run. No break aways really.

Andrewf20

True I suppose. I guess thats all there is to it.

mitresize5

I'm not doing tri's long so wouldn't consider myself anyway knowledgeable on the in's and out's of the sport but it always struct me that those ITU events are pretty much a 10K run with an elaborate warm up......

the swim usually ends in a big bunch and even if one athlete manages to gain a few minutes advantage he is swallowed up in no time by a Tour de France style pelethon.

just my two cents worth

tunney

mitresize5 wrote: »

I'm not doing tri's long so wouldn't consider myself anyway knowledgeable on the in's and out's of the sport but it always struct me that those ITU events are pretty much a 10K run with an elaborate warm up......

the swim usually ends in a big bunch and even if one athlete manages to gain a few minutes advantage he is swallowed up in no time by a Tour de France style pelethon.

just my two cents worth

True, but only if you're warm up can contain a 16-17 minute 1500m swim, anymore than that and you'll never catch the main group on the bike.

jcunniffe

I'd say Brownlee would put on aerobars if a nice sponsor came on board but otherwise there's not a lot of point. He pretty much always makes the first bike bunch without having to solo bridge up out of T1 and then he just minds himself in the pack until T2.

mitresize5 wrote: »

I'm not doing tri's long so wouldn't consider myself anyway knowledgeable on the in's and out's of the sport but it always struct me that those ITU events are pretty much a 10K run with an elaborate warm up......

I presuming you didn't watch the Athens Olympic triathlon then? That was a proper race with the strong cyclists and technical riders coming to the fore on the sharp climbs. The bunch coming out of T1 got blown apart through the first laps. Not too much easy pack drafting going there!

That said most current ITU races are big city-based and don't have much in the way of hills. Sadly Hyde Park in 2012 will be a pancake flat run fest.

J

MrCreosote

Alistair Brownlee don't need tribars-the air just gets out of his way!

And I'd agree about the flat courses. The best ones have choppy swims or wetsuit free, and hilly courses. The one is Madrid this year was a tough cycle course.