Triathlon: individual sport or team event?

kingQuez

This has been puzzling me for a while. I was under the impression that triathlons were usually considered individual endurance events (indeed rules+regs for some races seem to explicitly say as much), yet when I've seen some races on the TV its clear there are team tactics coming into play. After being initially very impressed that Bryan Keane had won the elite race in triathlone I was disappointed to hear about the team tactics that had been planned pre-race to 'block' other riders on the cycle (my initial reaction was its just blatent cheating). Is this just down to the difference between draft legal and draft non-legal races?

tunney

kingQuez wrote: »

This has been puzzling me for a while. I was under the impression that triathlons were usually considered individual endurance events (indeed rules+regs for some races seem to explicitly say as much), yet when I've seen some races on the TV its clear there are team tactics coming into play. After being initially very impressed that Bryan Keane had won the elite race in triathlone I was disappointed to hear about the team tactics that had been planned pre-race to 'block' other riders on the cycle (my initial reaction was its just blatent cheating). Is this just down to the difference between draft legal and draft non-legal races?

I seriously doubt there was any blocking in the race. Blocking implies obstruction which would be a breach of the rules.

Draft legal can be a team race with athletes acting as domestiques in the swim and bike.

kingQuez

Ah, OK so.. I initially started wondering about this after Bryan was interviewed on the RTE highlights after the athlone race. The online version isn't about anymore, but I found a newspaper article with the same quote that I was thinking of...

".... There are a lot of tactics involved in triathlons and with my team mate Gavin Noble we put ourselves in a great position with just the run to go. He said to me he'd try to block any attack or breakaway to keep us in touch and thankfully it worked, it's all about team effort. "
(http://www.corkindependent.com/profiles/profiles/byran-keane/)

I guess saying and doing are very different things; and maybe I just misinterpreted the comment. During coverage of the ITU events the commentators mentioned team tactics too, which got me thinking about it all again.

tunney

kingQuez wrote: »

Ah, OK so.. I initially started wondering about this after Bryan was interviewed on the RTE highlights after the athlone race. The online version isn't about anymore, but I found a newspaper article with the same quote that I was thinking of...

".... There are a lot of tactics involved in triathlons and with my team mate Gavin Noble we put ourselves in a great position with just the run to go. He said to me he'd try to block any attack or breakaway to keep us in touch and thankfully it worked, it's all about team effort. "
(http://www.corkindependent.com/profiles/profiles/byran-keane/)

I guess saying and doing are very different things; and maybe I just misinterpreted the comment. During coverage of the ITU events the commentators mentioned team tactics too, which got me thinking about it all again.

Block, as in ride down, stop the attack, chase it down, like bike riding, if a GC rider is in the breakaway the breakaway isn't going to be let go anywhere.

MCOS

tunney wrote: »

I seriously doubt there was any blocking in the race. Blocking implies obstruction which would be a breach of the rules.

Draft legal can be a team race with athletes acting as domestiques in the swim and bike.

Yep, those were the pre-empted tactics used on the day, from a reliable source. Bryan Keane even mentions it in his own blog. Hence why he came through from the third pack so strongly and suddenly. His run was the most impressive part of that win. Perhaps Blocking is the wrong word, perhaps Noble defended/supported his attack :rolleyes:

http://www.bryankeane.com/triathlete/