Tempo Talks: Paris Roubaix and IMTX
The latest episode of Tempo Talks provides an insightful exploration into the world of triathlon, centering on the recent experiences of Olympian Matt Sharpe as he transitions back into competitive racing following his professional career. Sharpe recounts his participation in an Olympic Triathlon, a local event hosted in Florida where he faced the challenges of racing as an age-grouper for the first time. He recounts the camaraderie among athletes and the invigorating atmosphere of the race, despite the inevitable physical discomfort that accompanies such endeavors. The episode also touches on the personal dynamics within the sport, including sharp competition from fellow Olympians and the humorous yet heartfelt acknowledgment of his wife's rising status as the fastest triathlete in their family, marking a significant moment of familial pride and rivalry.
The episode culminates in a forward-looking perspective as the hosts shift their focus to upcoming races, particularly the Ironman Texas, which promises to feature an unparalleled lineup of elite triathletes. The anticipation surrounding the event is palpable, with Sharp and Sankoff dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors, thereby providing listeners with a comprehensive preview of what to expect. This segment not only highlights the competitive landscape of triathlon but also showcases the evolving narratives within the sport that keep audiences engaged and invested. The episode’s blend of personal experience, community reflection, and forward-looking commentary positions it as a rich resource for triathlon enthusiasts, offering both inspiration and critical insights into the sport.
Links to topics discussed:
The TriDoc Podcast
Matt's Instagram
Jeff's Instagram
Email Jeff: tri_doc@icloud.com
Email Matt: Matt@thetemponews.com
Signup for the Tempo News
Signup for The TriDoc Podcast Supplement form
Transcript
Welcome to Tempo Talks, a show that brings you analysis of the biggest stories in triathlon training, tips to make you a better athlete, and breakdowns of the latest science and performance.
Speaker A:I'm Matthew Sharp, an Olympian in triathlon 70.3 Champion Co founder of the Tempo News.
Speaker B:And I'm Jeff Sankoff, the tridoc medical contributor for Triathlete magazine, age group winner and coach at Life Sport Coaching.
Speaker B:Our goal, inform and entertain two perspectives.
Speaker B:One sport, all things triathlon.
Speaker B:Now let's get into it.
Speaker B:All right, I am excited to welcome you all back to this week's Tempo Talks because for the first time in a little while, we get to talk to Matt Sharp about a race result because he did his first race as an age grouper.
Speaker B:Matt Sharp, tell us all about your weekend exploits and down in the Sunshine State.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:So we were out for the Billbone 2nd Annual Billbone Olympic Triathlon.
Speaker A:Shout out Bill bone for.
Speaker A:For bringing us out to his race.
Speaker A:He puts on a lot of these local races in kind of West Palm Beach, South Florida area.
Speaker A:A patron of endurance, which is always nice to have those.
Speaker A:We need more of those, for sure, especially in the local scene.
Speaker A:I did an Olympic distance triathlon.
Speaker A:This was my first, first race back after, you know, calling it quits on the pro racing.
Speaker A:It was my first race since, I guess, end of July, beginning of August last year.
Speaker A:A long time for me between drinks and let me tell you, I didn't remember how much it could hurt.
Speaker A:I forgot.
Speaker A:I forgot about that.
Speaker A:And it was Olympic distance, so the hurt, I guess, over the time wasn't as much, but, man, it was.
Speaker A:It was painful, but it was fun.
Speaker A:I loved being in an environment with everybody and just enjoying the, the presence of all the other athletes, the energy of all the other athletes.
Speaker A:I was like, I love this sport.
Speaker A:Like, I don't want to stop doing it, but it's definitely.
Speaker A:Didn't get any less painful.
Speaker A:Well, painful in the, you know, being sore and, and pain on the ego in some ways for sure.
Speaker B:Oh, come on.
Speaker B:I mean, come on.
Speaker B:Why don't you share with everybody how you did?
Speaker A:I was fourth overall.
Speaker A:I mean, this isn't like the most competitive race in the world, to be fair, but I was fourth overall.
Speaker A:I got beat by two Olympians.
Speaker A:So McDowell and my wife, Kirsten Casper is actually the, you know, official, I guess, passing of the torch, where now she's officially the fastest triathlete in our family.
Speaker A:You know, happy to pass that on to her.
Speaker A:It was just so funny, Jeff, like, because we were There, kind of like, as Olympians, you know, they put us off kind of early ahead of the field.
Speaker A:And I started beside Kirsten, and I was.
Speaker A:You know, I was back in the racing mindset.
Speaker A:There was a start line, and I took that swim out just so hot in the first whatever.
Speaker A:A hundred, 150 meters, like I typically would.
Speaker A:And she got on my feet, and she just told me, like, the second she got on my feet, it felt like I blew up because she was basically riding up my butt, like, trying to kind of, like, not crash into me because I was going so slow.
Speaker A:And what happened was Kevin started, like, five seconds behind.
Speaker A:And it was so funny because, like, I basically flipped over to backstroke.
Speaker A:I was like, okay, honey, you take the lead.
Speaker A:You got this.
Speaker A:I'm gonna get on, like, you know, whoever's feet behind.
Speaker A:And Kev was coming up from behind.
Speaker A:This is like 200 meters in, so, like, sweet.
Speaker A:I'm gonna get on his feet.
Speaker A:But there was someone else there who I was like, oh, okay, maybe this guy can swim.
Speaker A:I'll just get on his feet.
Speaker A:I'll sit four feet and just ride this wave to T1.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And you know what?
Speaker A:I made a big error because this guy, he was, like, feeling like I was.
Speaker A:I think he was kind of blowing up.
Speaker A:So we watched as the two Olympians.
Speaker B:Just pulled away into the distance.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:And it was so funny.
Speaker A:Literally, when I was swimming, like, I just mentally, I was like, I want to push.
Speaker A:I want to push.
Speaker A:And there was just nothing.
Speaker A:And this happened so many times in the race where mentally, I was like, I want to do this.
Speaker A:I want to dig deeper.
Speaker A:And there was nothing to dig.
Speaker A:There was nothing to give.
Speaker B:Two things to say to this, Matthew.
Speaker B:Number one is welcome to the ranks of the age groupers.
Speaker B:And number two, if only when I felt that way, I would finish fourth overall.
Speaker B:That would be.
Speaker B:That would be okay.
Speaker A:I think you might have taken it to me.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:We'll have to do a race together, I think, to really see who is the fastest triathlete in this podcast.
Speaker A:Cause I think based on how I felt and how my fitness is trending, I think it could be a tight race for sure.
Speaker B:Well, we shouldn't move past this without acknowledging there was also some pretty tragic events that took place at that very same race.
Speaker B:I saw this in the news, didn't realize that it was the same race you were at, but you were on the ground, so.
Speaker B:What.
Speaker B:What took place?
Speaker A:Yeah, unfortunately, you know, we have these.
Speaker A:These cops, these traffic Control people.
Speaker A:This is the, you know, the sheriff's office in this case.
Speaker A:And you know, they're out there meant to traffic and kind of guide cars and fortunately they let a car go through when some cyclists were cycling by and both these cyclists basically went to the side of this car that was improperly signaled to proceed.
Speaker A:And so we now have, I think one of the athletes is in pretty rough shape.
Speaker A:So it's really frustrating because we're celebrating this sport.
Speaker A:You know, it was a great event, very positive.
Speaker A:But it sucks when you have this kind of thing happen to people when they should be out there living a healthy life, enjoying themselves, you know, thinking they're safe.
Speaker A:Just really tragic on a lot of fronts for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's pretty horrible.
Speaker B:43 Year old lady from Minnesota who was, like you said, just enjoying herself and doing something that she loved.
Speaker B:She's been a longtime triathlete and she has a devastating cervical spine and head injury and I dare say, based on what I've read, doesn't sound particularly good.
Speaker B:So we will extend our thoughts and best wishes to her and her family and everybody who is in touch with her and who knows about her and will hope for the best, but with tempered induce enthusiasm on that.
Speaker B:So anyways, so glad to have you back out there, Matt, and we hope to have you back out there again sometime soon.
Speaker B:Maybe, maybe you and I can get on a start line at some point.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, if it's at altitude, then I'm definitely.
Speaker B:Yeah, we won't do.
Speaker B:We won't bring you out to Reduccio, the one in New Mexico.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That looks like a brutal race.
Speaker B:All right, speaking of start lines, we have a big one this weekend.
Speaker B:We are going to talk about a couple of races.
Speaker B:One that just took place this past weekend that was not a trial, but I think it's worthwhile discussing because it just had a major impact around the world.
Speaker B:And that was of course the doyenne of the Spring Classic, the queen of the monuments.
Speaker B:And that was Paris Dubai, which took place just this past Sunday and was really a phenomenal event and kind of want to talk about that a little bit.
Speaker B:I know there are many cycling fans, not just me, so I think we'll get into that a little bit and then we'll turn our attention forward to this coming weekend and Ironman Texas, which is just got a start list, like, I mean, Texas stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:What else you can say?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's pretty unbelievable.
Speaker B:It's really pretty amazing.
Speaker B:It's going to be quite a show.
Speaker B:Down there in the woodlands area.
Speaker B:But let's begin first with what took place this past weekend.
Speaker B:If you are not familiar with what I say when I'm talking about the monuments of cycling, there are five of them and they are kind of the oldest, most established, well known races.
Speaker B:They're also some of the most difficult races that have been around in cycling well over a hundred years.
Speaker B:It began in the spring with Milan San Remo.
Speaker B:It follows with the Ronde von Vlaanderen which is the Tour of Flanders.
Speaker B:We then have the one that just passed which was the kind of the hell of the north, the Queen of the Classics, which is the Paris Roubaix.
Speaker B:Then it follows up next is going to be the Liege, Bastogne, Liege, which also is in Belgium.
Speaker B:And then it ends up at the end of the year with the final of the monuments being the Egiro Lombardia or the Tour of the Falling Leaves.
Speaker B:There is an unofficial six monument which is the Strada Bianchi.
Speaker B:It's the newest of the races.
Speaker B:It began only about 20, 25 years ago and it has very rapidly established itself as a very popular race on par with these other major races.
Speaker B:But to win the monuments is really a palmares that a cyclist is really a certain type of cyclist is always shooting for.
Speaker B:Of course, everybody will be familiar with Tadi Pogaccia.
Speaker B:Tari is really a phenom.
Speaker B:He is the Christian Blumenfeld of cycling.
Speaker B:If I mean, that's all I can think of to compare him.
Speaker B:But honestly, it's even more than that.
Speaker B:The man has won the LeBron, Tiger.
Speaker A:Woods, the what have you.
Speaker B:He's won everything.
Speaker B:Yeah, he's really amazing, but he's not built for the classics or at least people said he's, you know, typically, you know, he's, he's a multi day race kind of guy, a Tour guy, Grand Tour.
Speaker B:And he's won two of the three Grand Tours.
Speaker B:He's actually won two of them in one year, which is like unheard of.
Speaker B:But he's such a driven, competitive guy that he kind of got bored with just winning the Grand Tours and so he turned himself into a classics racer.
Speaker B:He's won the Strada Bianchi several times.
Speaker B:He's won four of the major monuments.
Speaker B:Winning the Milan San Remo this year for the first time to add to his multiple wins of the Tour of the Giro Lombardi, the Tour of Flanders and the Liege Bastogne.
Speaker B:But the one that kind of he had not been able to win and was really the hardest for him.
Speaker B:Because of his stature is the Paris Roubaix has 36 sectors, I believe of the roughest, worst, most unbelievably heinous cobblestones that you've ever seen.
Speaker B:It favors a bigger rider, somebody who can really hold their bike down as they ride over these like really, really.
Speaker A:Rough roads, absorb the cobbles kind of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And the big favorites coming into this race was three time winner Matthieu van der Poel from Holland.
Speaker B:We had Wout Van Aert, we had who's a Belgian, we had Ghana.
Speaker B:What's his first name?
Speaker B:Ghana.
Speaker B:An Italian rider who is Filippo Ghana, who is built to win a race like this, has not won it before, but is felt to be somebody who's got a lot of possibility.
Speaker B:And then of course Pagaccia, who was second last year, edged out at the line by Van der Poel.
Speaker B:And the race was just incredibly dramatic.
Speaker B:With about 120km to go, Pogaccia had his first of like three flats.
Speaker B:The guy had to change bikes multiple times.
Speaker B:Every time he changed bikes he would lose ground to the lead, but he would always storm back sometime with the help of his teammates, sometimes by himself.
Speaker B:All of the major favorites, Ghana, Van der Poel, Vanart and Pagacha all had major problems where they had to swap out bikes.
Speaker B:And at one point on the Ironberg trench, which is a very, very famous cobbled sector, Van der Poel had to like just basically dispense with his bike.
Speaker B:It was toast.
Speaker B:He couldn't find a replacement bike because his teammate gave him a bike with pedals that he couldn't clip into.
Speaker B:I mean it was just disastrous.
Speaker B:Found him 2 minutes back of the lead, got himself all the way back to within 20 seconds.
Speaker B:But by that point Pagacha and Van Aert had broken away and they established themselves as basically the winner was going to come from them.
Speaker B:And the race ends in a velodrome in Roubaix.
Speaker B:They come into this velodrome, they do one and a half laps and basically with half a lap to go, Van Aert, who has really been hard luck guy over the last couple years with some major crashes, has had some just horrendous injuries, has come back every time, remains an incredibly popular guy in cycling, finds himself against the best cyclist in the world and wins.
Speaker A:And yeah, two up in a two up sprint.
Speaker B:I sent you a whole bunch of reels just like to show you what this meant in the world of cycling and certainly what it meant in Belgium, where this man has now been elevated from, I think royalty to now like a God.
Speaker B:I mean, it was just amazing, the.
Speaker A:Response to his win.
Speaker A:It seems like it's just different than, like, when.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:And wout.
Speaker A:He's an incredible cyclist, has, like you said, a ton of Palmeiras, a huge resume, but it's.
Speaker A:It seemed more.
Speaker A:I don't know, he's like the people's champion almost.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That's what I kind of took away was like, his win versus, like, a Tade, versus, like, a Matthew Vanderpoel.
Speaker A:Like, I don't know, people just resonated with it a bit more.
Speaker A:Obviously.
Speaker A:He had that homage to his teammate who passed away a few years ago, which is part of it as well.
Speaker A:It felt like he was kind of almost like this people's champion.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's what I felt.
Speaker B:I kind of agree.
Speaker B:And the nice thing is, you know, like, Pogacha is very different from a lot of other.
Speaker B:Like, we've had Froome, Right.
Speaker B:Chris Froome, he was.
Speaker B:He was kind of the peak of cycling for many years, but he wasn't particularly well liked.
Speaker B:He was respected, but he wasn't loved.
Speaker A:Pogacha wasn't a character.
Speaker A:Wasn't a great character.
Speaker B:Pagacha is loved by fans, by the rest of.
Speaker B:I mean, Cyclone in.
Speaker B:In the peloton.
Speaker B:Have a great deal of respect for him.
Speaker B:And they like him.
Speaker B:They genuinely like him because he is a humble guy.
Speaker B:He is very, like, respectful of the sport.
Speaker B:He's very respectful to his competitor, fellow competitors.
Speaker B:He has, on numerous occasions, like, given up a win for one of his teammates, for example.
Speaker B:I mean, he is pretty amazing that way.
Speaker A:You think of last year when.
Speaker A:I don't know if there's a big crash in one of the stages in the Tour, but he basically slowed down the peloton.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Himself, he was like, no, we're not this.
Speaker A:And waited for everybody to come back, and then they resumed.
Speaker A:So he does stuff like that.
Speaker A:So, yeah, he has a lot of respect.
Speaker A:Back to.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Like, I feel like wout is.
Speaker A:I don't want to say like, the bridesmaid, because, again, he has a huge resume, but you think of how many times he's.
Speaker A:He's fallen to, like, Matthew van der Poel, especially in cyclocross.
Speaker A:Like, he's just, I don't know, missing a few of those wins that maybe he thinks he could have had.
Speaker A:And so for getting, you know, this win against those two athletes who are both at the top of their game, really, I'm sure that factored into his celebrations.
Speaker B:Oh, for sure.
Speaker A:And how good he felt.
Speaker B:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker B:And I mean, he's just a good guy.
Speaker B:Like, you know, he's always talking about his kids and his wife and his family, about how much they mean to him.
Speaker B:And he, you know, when he finished, he was very quick to point out his teammate.
Speaker B:Like you said, when Wout was a rookie, he was racing on a team and one of his teammates basically died of cardiac arrest 150km into Paris Roubaix.
Speaker B:And he has raced for him ever since, hoping to win this race for, in his honor.
Speaker B:And he did that.
Speaker B:And immediately after he wins, he's looking for his family to celebrate with them.
Speaker B:I mean, he's just a very, you know, and, and what he did last year for Simon Yates in the Giro d', Italia, where Simon Yates was in third place pretty well back on the second to last stage, but because of what was going on between the top two guys who were kind of playing around and not winning, wanting to really do, Simon took advantage of that.
Speaker B:He raced ahead, ended up closing down the virtual gap quite a bit.
Speaker B:And then basically Van Aert was up ahead.
Speaker B:Van Aert waited, waited, waited.
Speaker B:Yates got on his wheel and he just emptied himself and just basically, you know, Yates does not win without Van Aert basically turning himself inside out to drag Yates along and get the time that he needs to win the pink jersey in that race last year.
Speaker B:And Yates basically said that.
Speaker B:He just came out and said that exact thing.
Speaker B:So, you know, he's just, he's, yeah, he's just a good guy.
Speaker B:He's a great teammate.
Speaker B:He has had, like you said, a lot of bad luck.
Speaker B:He has won.
Speaker B:Listen, he's won the green jersey.
Speaker B:He's won on the champs.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He's won a lot of very big, you know, stages in races.
Speaker B:He's won a lot of big races.
Speaker B:He's won Strade Bianchi before.
Speaker B:It's his second monument.
Speaker B:He won Milan San Remo several years ago.
Speaker B:But there's no question this was the big one that he'd been chasing for a very long time.
Speaker B:And you could see how much emotion he brought to it and how nice it was for him to win.
Speaker B:And I just agree.
Speaker B:It was very cathartic for, I think, a lot of people.
Speaker B:And everybody was very happy.
Speaker B:And, you know, Van der Poel, Pugash, they have tons of fans.
Speaker B:Everybody there would have been a lot of people happy if they had won.
Speaker B:But I get the sense that those same people were just as happy for Wout because he deserved.
Speaker B:Was really cool.
Speaker A:It's great.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, when you have not just one person dominating, when you have these different cast of characters, it certainly makes it, the sport more interesting.
Speaker A:It brings more dynamism to the sport.
Speaker A:Just, you gotta love it when it's just you don't know who's gonna win on a certain day.
Speaker A:So that's what's great about cycling right now too.
Speaker A:You've got these.
Speaker A:These kind of three guys who are mixing it up all the time with each other.
Speaker B:Well, I won't.
Speaker B:I won't tell Adam you said that because Adam was just distraught.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:He's a huge Tade fan and he just.
Speaker B:All he wanted was Piccadill.
Speaker B:Gotcha.
Speaker B:And when we were sitting here watching it and when Wout pulled ahead to win, I was pretty excited.
Speaker B:Cause I'm a big Wout Van Art fan.
Speaker B:I like them both, but I was really happy for Wout and Adam was just like, he was just not happy.
Speaker A:So he's like, he's like, welcome to life.
Speaker B:Yeah, he'd be very happy if Pagaggio won every time he started.
Speaker B:But, you know.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker B:I think that, like you said, I think it adds a certain amount of drama.
Speaker B:It adds a certain amount of, hey, you know, who's gonna win today?
Speaker B:I mean, if it's Pagacha every time, then it does get a little bit boring.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:Having spent, I feel like a bit of time in media now, you just want a story.
Speaker A:You'll want a good story and you're willing to have, you know, maybe your preferred person not have a day so you can have a better story.
Speaker A:That's kind of my.
Speaker A:My take on that.
Speaker B:Agreed, Agreed.
Speaker B:Well, speaking of favorites who are difficult to beat, we have two of them this weekend.
Speaker B:One on the men's side, one on the women's.
Speaker B:Actually probably have a couple on each side, so.
Speaker B:So let's turn our attention to Ironman Texas.
Speaker B:Before we do that though, I would like to just invite any of you who are also cycling fans to comment in the talktempo Talks Facebook group.
Speaker B:I'd love to hear what your impression was of Paris Roubaix, what your thoughts were on the big win by Web Van Aert.
Speaker B:Am I the only one out there who's an avid, ardent cycling fan?
Speaker B:I'm sure there must be others.
Speaker B:So yeah, head on over there.
Speaker B:Leave your thoughts.
Speaker B:Leave your comments.
Speaker B:We'd love to hear them.
Speaker B:But let's turn our attention to Ironman Texas.
Speaker B:We have just A sensational field lined up on both the men's and women's side.
Speaker B:Matt's going to give us his cursed picks in a, in a few moments.
Speaker B:But shall we start with the women and why don't we talk about who is going to be lining up this weekend, who we can think might be our winners and who are some dark horses?
Speaker A:I mean the men's race has definitely more athletes in the field, but this women's race is just extremely.
Speaker B:Oh, there's like, there's seven or eight.
Speaker B:Yeah, there's seven or eight women.
Speaker A:Taylor Kniffer, Solvek Love, Seth.
Speaker A:You know, almost like the Big three.
Speaker A:If we just talk about the big three in men's cycling, you almost have the big three in women's triathlon, long course triathlon.
Speaker A:There's probably someone else you could throw in there.
Speaker A:Laura, Phil maybe.
Speaker A:But you know, it's fun to say the Big three.
Speaker A:We got the Big three.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:In Texas, alongside, you know, Lisa Perder who burst onto the long course scene last year with incredible results in the pro series in Kona, you've got Hannah Berry, another veteran athlete who really taken momentum from last year and just turned it into even more great results this year.
Speaker A:Mar Sanchez.
Speaker A:She's someone who's always kind of near the podium, on the podium, podium adjacent.
Speaker A:Someone who we've talked about recently.
Speaker A:Grace Tech.
Speaker A:Grace Tech.
Speaker B:And that's her, that's her Ironman debut, isn't it Grace?
Speaker A:Or it is her Ironman debut and I do believe she will have a good debut based on the form that she's coming off.
Speaker B:I mean she's coming off of a couple of big races against some pretty competitive fields and she's done very well.
Speaker B:So I agree.
Speaker B:I think Grace Tech is sleeper.
Speaker A:Jackie Herring as well.
Speaker A:Danielle Lewis, like this is just an exceptional field.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:How do you think this is going to play out?
Speaker B:Well, I mean, so right away as always, you know, Cat Matthews, Taylor Nib Solveg Lok is pretty hard to get past those three.
Speaker B:I don't even know that I could possibly choose from those three.
Speaker B:I would like to see a race where Solvec actually beats Taylor as opposed to Taylor, you know, because right now Loveseth hasn't actually beaten Taylor.
Speaker B:Nib Taylor's beaten herself.
Speaker B:So until, until Soviet can actually show me that she can be Taylor when Taylor is having a good day, I am going to continue to believe that Taylor is going to win that, you know, head to head match each time.
Speaker B:So, you know, prove me wrong.
Speaker B:Solvik, I would love for you to because you're the young up and comer and I have great faith that at some point you are going to do that.
Speaker B:So maybe this is the weekend.
Speaker B:We'll see.
Speaker B:Now, Kat Matthews, I mean, she is in early season form right now.
Speaker B:That.
Speaker B:And this is the first time she's going up against Taylor, I think.
Speaker B:No, she.
Speaker B:They raced in Oceanside.
Speaker A:No, Matthews wasn't there.
Speaker A:This is the first time.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:They're going up against each other since.
Speaker A:Since Kona.
Speaker A:Since Kona, yeah.
Speaker B:So this is going to be interesting.
Speaker B:This is going to be very interesting because.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I, you know, Cat Matthews, Taylor Nip.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I, like.
Speaker A:I'm just.
Speaker A:It's so hard to, like, even imagine.
Speaker A:Like, my brain is just like, man, I know.
Speaker A:Crazy.
Speaker A:But I looked kind of down the start list a little bit, and there is an interesting addition.
Speaker A:So there's a woman, her name's Margarita Ryan.
Speaker A:She swam NCAA swimming and now she's doing triathlon, and she was in that kind of front group in Oceanside, kind of alongside Nib.
Speaker A:So, you know, if she's someone who's ready to push the swim, kind of get to the front of the race early, it could be really beneficial for Taylor, who maybe won't want to.
Speaker A:To lead the entire swim.
Speaker A:Maybe she'll want to sit on her feet for a bit.
Speaker A:Maybe they can swap turns in the water.
Speaker A:Like, that would be massive for Nib to have someone, because we saw in Oceanside, she just sat on Vitoria Lopez's feet and started that bike in just prime position for them to also just absolutely dominate the bike.
Speaker A:So I think Nib may jump out to a pretty early lead in that swim.
Speaker A:And obviously her bike form is incredible.
Speaker A:She.
Speaker A:She dusted a lot of athletes by, like, minutes in, in Oceanside and in the Gold Coast T100.
Speaker A:So expect her to kind of be leading.
Speaker A:And, and, and, and I have to bring it up because it's something that has been brought up in other places, but there definitely could be a little bit of a Moto Moto effect.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Especially in this race and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A:And, and I don't think.
Speaker A:And I think athletes are really understanding this.
Speaker A:And so the ones who get to the front early, the ones who can kind of establish a lead, I think they know they're going to get a benefit.
Speaker A:And that's just the reality of wanting to get coverage of these races.
Speaker A:There's just going to be motos.
Speaker A:So I think she's going to try and take advantage of that as well, especially on the flat roads and whatnot of Texas.
Speaker A:So I expect her to have multiple, multiple minute lead.
Speaker A:You could see her having up to 10 minutes lead, maybe even more off the bike bike, depending on how it plays out behind her.
Speaker A:But we've seen that can sometimes not be enough.
Speaker A:So we'll, we'll see what the gap is from Nib to, you know, where is, is solve that.
Speaker A:Going to be coming off the bike.
Speaker A:Where is Matthews going to be coming off the bike?
Speaker A:Because we know in Kona we obviously, obviously saw Solvag jump out to that kind of breakaway position where she was in between the front group of Lucy Charles Taylor and ahead of the group that had had Cat Matthews, Laura Phillip.
Speaker A:So will she try and get away again to have a buffer over Matthews, given how well Matthews has been running?
Speaker A:I think she's going to try that again for sure.
Speaker A:I, that's, that's my thought that either she's going to do her best to try and get as close as she can to Nib or at least not come off the bike with Cat.
Speaker B:Well, the best runners here are Cat and Grace Tech and I guess Lisa Petter.
Speaker B:Probably they're gonna be the even.
Speaker A:Solvag had a great run in Oceanside.
Speaker A:Like you saw her kind of bring back nip on the run there.
Speaker A:So she's, it's not like she's running poorly.
Speaker A:It's just if I'm gonna put them coming off the bike together, I'm gonna put Cat ahead.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Just based on, so you're right.
Speaker B:I mean, if Taylor gets the best of the bike, then yeah, it's gonna be.
Speaker B:How much of a gap is she gonna have?
Speaker B:Because I think she needs 10 minutes.
Speaker B:I, I, I, I agree.
Speaker B:You know, she's, she's kind of, you know, we hearken back to when we used to see races between Natasha Badman and some of the runners like Laurie Bowden or even Rinny, you know, they'd come off the bike and they'd chase him down.
Speaker B:And then, you know, you think of Chrissie Wellington and you know, she had those astonishing bike splits and she would run well, but she would give up 10 minutes or so.
Speaker B:But she could afford to.
Speaker B:Cause she biked so well.
Speaker B:I think we're looking at that again.
Speaker B:I mean, it's not like Taylor is a slouch when she starts running.
Speaker B:She just doesn't, she definitely gives up 10 minutes to Cat.
Speaker B:And so I agree with you.
Speaker B:Now another big question is what's the weather going to be like?
Speaker B:I haven't Looked at a forecast and it's not going to be terribly accurate when we're recording it any.
Speaker B:We're recording this anyways.
Speaker B:But you know, that can play into this too.
Speaker B:Texas can be windy on the bike and it can be hot and humid on the run and we know that Taylor has had problems with that.
Speaker B:At least she did last year in Kona.
Speaker B:So is that gonna play into this?
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:We'll see.
Speaker B:We'll see.
Speaker B:To be determined.
Speaker B:But anyways, you know, you wonder if.
Speaker A:Maybe she wants to try and switch it up a little bit, maybe dial that bike back a bit kind of power wise just to see how she goes on the run.
Speaker A:Cause I think she comes off the bike and not having dug too deep of a hole, I think she's capable of having a great run and, and taking her first Ironman win.
Speaker A:She doesn't have.
Speaker A:Have a win in an Ironman distance race, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker A:So I think that's something that's maybe in the back of her mind a little bit.
Speaker A:You know, she hasn't been able to get that win and wins typically come very easy, quote easy to her.
Speaker A:So, yeah, a bit of a monkey.
Speaker A:She's trying to get off her back for sure.
Speaker A:In this race.
Speaker B:If you're gonna pick a dark horse, who would it be?
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean there's just, there's a.
Speaker B:Lot of them, a lot of great.
Speaker A:Yeah, I, I mean I just from what I saw Grace, like where the way she was running in Oceanside, coming off the, the podium in Geelong, I'm gonna have to say if someone's gonna break up the big three, it'll be Grace for sure.
Speaker B:I kind of agree.
Speaker B:And then in the back of my mind I'm thinking Lisa Petterer, fifth in Kona.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:She hasn't raced this year.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:This is her, I think it's her.
Speaker A:First race, so maybe I haven't been paying attention fully to, you know, what's going on with her.
Speaker B:Well, she raced in, she raced in Cozumel, she won, but she, she didn't missed her chance to get her slot because she missed the awards.
Speaker B:But, but yeah, this is, yeah.
Speaker B:Anyway, so it's going to be, I mean, what a, what a, what a start field.
Speaker A:Okay, you could just stop right now and be like, yep, that's going to be a great weekend.
Speaker B:We have an, I mean, an unbelievable men's field.
Speaker B:So we have defending champion Christian Blumenfeld who is coming off his win in Oceanside, a very commanding win.
Speaker B:Patrick Lange is back three time world championship, making his debut for the year.
Speaker B:At what point do we say Patrick is kind of over the hill and done?
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I mean, he's not really given us any reason to think that's the case.
Speaker B:So we'll see what happens this time around.
Speaker B:In Texas, making his Ironman debut, 70.3 world champion.
Speaker B:Yella Gaines.
Speaker A:Amazing.
Speaker A:I know, Amazing.
Speaker B:Gustav Iden is there.
Speaker B:And then we've got a whole other bunch of names.
Speaker B:Rudy Von Berg, last year's runner up, Antonio Benito, Leon Chevalier.
Speaker B:And I mean I'm this far down into the list and I'm coming up on Sam Long, Martin Van Real.
Speaker B:Casper's there, Cameron, Cam Wolf, Jason West, Lionel Ben Canute Schomburg.
Speaker B:I mean, Lionel doesn't even make it onto the list because there's so many athletes with track records right now.
Speaker B:Lionel hasn't done an Ironman since like two years ago.
Speaker B:Yeah, so he's not even showing up like as a potential.
Speaker B:But how do you count them out?
Speaker B:You can't.
Speaker B:You can't count the man out.
Speaker B:What are you thinking?
Speaker B:I mean, like, I don't even know.
Speaker B:I mean, listen, you can't count out Christian.
Speaker B:I mean Christian is.
Speaker A:Yeah, you can't get out Christian.
Speaker A:It's an interesting dynamic I think especially with the new 20 meter draft zone.
Speaker A:I think someone like a Sam Long, he likes his chances.
Speaker A:He likes his, his chances in a race like this.
Speaker A:Even though there's so many good swimmers in this race.
Speaker A:You've got Martin Van Real, he was a breakaway at the Anise Ironman world champs alongside Jonah Schomberg who is also in this race.
Speaker A:You've got like Vincent Louie is doing an Iron Man.
Speaker B:Oh, I didn't even know.
Speaker B:I didn't even have him on my list.
Speaker B:Oh my goodness.
Speaker A:I didn't even know he was going until I saw like impost a video with when he was running with Van Real.
Speaker A:I'm like, okay, that changes things as well.
Speaker A:You've got Ben Knute, you've got Andrea Salvisberg.
Speaker A:Like these guys are all like many.
Speaker A:Like a bunch of these guys, they were in the front pack at the Olympics together.
Speaker A:Like, and now they're in the front pack of an Ironman.
Speaker B:Tell me something, Matt, like, what goes into the calculus for a lot of these pros?
Speaker B:Like, I mean, why show up to a race that's this stacked?
Speaker B:Like, why not, why not go to a lesser race?
Speaker B:Like Matthew is in South Africa.
Speaker B:Like, he's not going to be racing against anything close to this kind of,.
Speaker A:You know, I think people, a lot of people are looking at the start list and even if they're fit, they're like, man, man, I really wish I'd just gone somewhere else or started earlier.
Speaker A:And that was the whole thing with New Zealand.
Speaker A:It was such a golden opportunity if you were able to just kind of bite the bullet, make the trip down there.
Speaker A:Because the quality of field certainly much less in, in, in New Zealand than in, than in Texas.
Speaker A:It's just the timing, right?
Speaker A:There's so many people who are doing the ocean side Texas double, who are coming from Europe, you know, making a big trip out of it.
Speaker A:There's just so many people in North America.
Speaker A:Like Matt Hansen's doing this race.
Speaker A:He raced Ironman New Zealand.
Speaker B:And isn't Trevor, Trevor Foley's here too, right?
Speaker A:He's not, he's, he's training.
Speaker A:I think he's one of the few who, who aren't at this race.
Speaker A:It's just wild how, and, and of course, you know, this is what the T100 wanted, right?
Speaker A:The T100 wanted to have the best athletes at the, at the races every weekend.
Speaker A:And now, you know, Iron man seems to be doing that.
Speaker A:They seem to be eating their lunch.
Speaker A:So I'm sure Mr. Scott Derou might have some more work.
Speaker A:This is in his opening monologue.
Speaker B:This is bonkers.
Speaker B:This is a bonkers, bonkers men's field.
Speaker A:It's the most competitive race.
Speaker A:I want to say.
Speaker A:It's, it's more competitive than like many of the past world Championships.
Speaker A:Like that's the reality.
Speaker A:There's just so many good athletes and even a couple years ago, this race is more competitive than the world Championships for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah, this is, this is right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But this, this race is like, I, I can't remember a field like this at Roth.
Speaker B:I can't remember a field like this at Hamburg at like any of those big races.
Speaker B:This is unbelievable.
Speaker A:So there's just so many factors that, that have led to this, like the timing, the pro series, people wanting Kona slots because it's back in Kona.
Speaker A:Like it's just a perfect storm.
Speaker A:You had Ditlev, who was supposed to be there, right?
Speaker A:He was supposed to be there and then he got the shingles, which is not great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But so, yeah, like it could have been even better.
Speaker A:And just like, I'm speechless.
Speaker B:Like, it's just not, I, I, I, I wouldn't even know where to start here.
Speaker B:I mean, obviously big fan of Lionel.
Speaker B:Would love to see Lionel do well But I, I have a hard time seeing him in the top three here.
Speaker A:I mean, well, this, the dynamic though with the 20 meter draft zone.
Speaker A:I just think these guys like a Lionel, like Cam Wharf, like Sam Long, I think they're heartened by it.
Speaker A:I think they're, they've got a little bit of swagger back because they know.
Speaker B:That they can, they can make up the deficit off the swim.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And one factor that we'll really have to pay attention to is if it is a wetsuit swim or not.
Speaker A:Because if it is not a wetsuit swim, that definitely hurts Sam Long.
Speaker A:Lionel.
Speaker A:Like that's another three minutes at least.
Speaker A:They're going to lose to, to the front guys on top of the 4 to 4ish that they're probably already going to lose, maybe even more.
Speaker A:If it's a wetsuit versus non wetsuit that'll change things.
Speaker A:You're still going to have a, a pretty ripping front group.
Speaker B:And by the way, by the way, I got a very well deserved yellow card for last week.
Speaker B:Well, because I made the comment about Sam Long having a bad swim last week and the reality is he didn't coming out of Notionside, he actually didn't come out that far back.
Speaker B:And as you rightly said during our podcast, he made his way to the front pretty darn quick on the bike.
Speaker B:And that was because as listeners, Jay Weber reached out, he contacted me personally and he was like, dude, Sam wasn't that far behind on the swim.
Speaker B:And Jay, you were absolutely right to call me out.
Speaker B:Jay is an official, so he has the right to give me a yellow card.
Speaker B:And so I took my good call.
Speaker A:By Jay for sure.
Speaker B:So Sam is here again, you know, to potentially take advantage of like you said, that 20 meter draft zone Lionel too.
Speaker B:You know, Lionel does swim better than Sam and has shown some pretty good swimming in the last year.
Speaker B:So, you know, be interesting.
Speaker B:Be interesting.
Speaker B:I. Gosh, I don't know.
Speaker A:Yeah, I do think you're going to have that front group out of the water.
Speaker A:Wetsuit or no wetsuit.
Speaker A:It'll be bigger if it's a wetsuit swim.
Speaker A:And then kind of starting the bike.
Speaker A:It's, it's more like who wants to go with Schomburg?
Speaker A:Because you know, like this guy, he just attacks.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And he wants to attack.
Speaker A:He wants to be on the front.
Speaker A:I think he knows the motos are an advantage.
Speaker A:So he's like, I'm going to jump on this and I'm going to be the guy in the front because I'm going to get a benefit from this.
Speaker A:And especially now where it's 20 meters, he knows the people behind aren't getting as much of a benefit, but there's.
Speaker A:There's going to be a front group, there's going to be a front pack.
Speaker A:And, you know, it's.
Speaker A:It's kind of the situation of, are they going to work together, are they going to kind of all sit behind Schomberg?
Speaker A:Like, Van Reals, always a guy who loves to attack, too, so he's going to be in the mix at the front as well.
Speaker A:But, like.
Speaker A:And then you think, okay, well, how far back is Yella going to be out of the water?
Speaker A:Is he going to be with Blumen starting the bike?
Speaker A:Is Blumenfeld gonna look at Yella and be like, well, I dusted you and Geelong, so I just need to stay with you and I'll outrun you?
Speaker A:Or is he gonna try and get rid of Yella?
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:And Stornas is in there.
Speaker A:There's all those kind of subplots.
Speaker A:And then you've got long, You've got Lionel, you got Cam Wurth trying to come from behind.
Speaker A:So I don't know if they're gonna have enough cameras for this race because of all the different dynamics at play.
Speaker A:You've, you know, you've got Nick Thompson there.
Speaker A:That guy was a beast in Nice.
Speaker A:He's going to be ripping on the bike.
Speaker A:Christian Hogan Haug, the guy who almost beat Blumenfeld in Frankfurt last year, he's there.
Speaker A:Like, it's just nuts.
Speaker A:So there's just going to be so many lead changes.
Speaker A:I think there's going to be a lot of different dynamics going on.
Speaker A:You're definitely not going to know who's going to win, like, with, you know, in T2, like, you just.
Speaker B:No, it's going to be.
Speaker B:It's going to be like, later in the run before we really have a good sense.
Speaker B:I think.
Speaker A:Think it.
Speaker A:It's more kind of like, okay, if.
Speaker A:If Blumenfeld doesn't have a mechanical, like, who's going to beat him?
Speaker A:Who is ready to.
Speaker A:To.
Speaker A:To take him down in this race?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, I kind of feel like you do.
Speaker B:I think Blumenfeld's the guy to beat.
Speaker B:I think that I think our big cyclists could be a threat.
Speaker B:There's just so many.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:I'm not gonna.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm just not gonna pick.
Speaker B:I mean, I just.
Speaker B:I think there's too many incredible athletes here.
Speaker B:I think it's gonna be an amazing race to watch I'm going to be across the country with my daughter doing a college visit, so I'll be watching from afar, but it is something that I will be paying very close attention to and looking forward to.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it's going to be amazing.
Speaker B:Do you have a.
Speaker B:Do you have a pick?
Speaker B:Do you have a pick?
Speaker A:Yeah, I've got picks for sure.
Speaker A:So I guess I'll start off in the men's race.
Speaker A:Like, I'm looking at this.
Speaker A:This list and I guess Blumenfeld.
Speaker A:I don't know if I want to pick them for the win.
Speaker A:I kind of want to see maybe some.
Speaker A:Somebody dethrone him, but it's just so hard.
Speaker A:It's so hard to pick anyone other than Blumenfeld, obviously, unless he gets a mechanical or something.
Speaker A:So I, you know, I'll put Blumenfeld for the win.
Speaker A:Hard not to see him because I picked him for Oceanside, too, even though he did the Geelong race the week before.
Speaker A:Like, the guy's just coming in, he's hot.
Speaker A:I don't think anyone can take him down.
Speaker A:So Blumenfeld for the win.
Speaker A:And then I'm looking down this list and yeah, Stornas, he looked great, great in Oceanside.
Speaker A:He was kind of coming along on the run.
Speaker A:Schomburg, obviously is in great form, but is he in full Iron man form?
Speaker A:You know, that Challenge Roth race that he did last year was great.
Speaker A:Obviously.
Speaker A:Nisi had a great race, too.
Speaker A:Man, you got Van Real.
Speaker A:It's just.
Speaker A:It's hard.
Speaker A:It's hard.
Speaker A:But Bloomfeld for the win, man.
Speaker A:I'm gonna say I'm gonna go with Stornez for second, then I'm actually gonna bring up Sam Long.
Speaker A:Sam Long.
Speaker A:I think Sam Long's going to be able to get back into the race quickly.
Speaker A:I think he's.
Speaker A:He's ready to run well.
Speaker A:I think he's.
Speaker A:He's ready to back his run off a.
Speaker A:A pretty hard bike, because I'm sure it'll be a hard bike.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Sorry, guys.
Speaker A:I've probably cursed you there for the women, you know, the big three.
Speaker A:I can't break up the big three.
Speaker A:They're just.
Speaker A:They're just too good.
Speaker A:I do think Kat Matthews, she just has a great history on this course.
Speaker A:She.
Speaker A:She's looks great over the full distance, so I'm.
Speaker A:I'm picking her for the win.
Speaker A:I'm gonna put Nib second.
Speaker A:I'm gonna put her second.
Speaker A:I don't know how she's gonna do it exactly.
Speaker A:Is it gonna be a big Lead on the bike.
Speaker A:Is it gonna be her on the run?
Speaker A:They got her second and I got solve egg in in third.
Speaker A:I think people are really keeping their eye on her, so I don't think they're gonna let her get away like they did in Kona.
Speaker B:All right, well, what do you guys think we want to hear?
Speaker B:Head on over to the talk Tempo Talks Facebook group.
Speaker B:If you're not a member already just answered the easy questions.
Speaker B:We'll gain you admittance.
Speaker B:We would love to know your thoughts.
Speaker B:And yeah, we will check in next week and do a little recap of what went down because I anticipate lots of fireworks.
Speaker B:I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
Speaker A:Lots.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's going to be pretty amazing.
Speaker A:Yeah, I will be tuning in as much as I can this weekend for sure, and it's going to be awesome.
Speaker A:Great weekend for the sport, I'll tell you that.
Speaker B:Yep, that's for sure.
Speaker B:All right, well, that's going to wrap it up for another episode of Tempo Talks.
Speaker B:We hope that you've enjoyed it.
Speaker B:If you have.
Speaker B:We hope that you will leave us a rating and a review wherever you download this content.
Speaker B:And if you didn't enjoy it, well, please do let us know because we always are looking to get better.
Speaker B:You can drop us a line or you could leave a comment in the Facebook group.
Speaker B:We will be back again next week with another episode.
Speaker B:Matt, always a pleasure.
Speaker B:Hope that you are recovering, getting in the Normatec, sauna, hot tub, whatever it is and everything.
Speaker A:We're throwing everything at this body because it's.
Speaker A:It's hurting.
Speaker A:So, yeah, fun times racing.
Speaker A:Look forward to the next one.
Speaker A:Enjoy that college visit.
Speaker A:That'll be good.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Father daughter bonding time.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker B:It's gonna be fun.
Speaker B:All right, take care.
Speaker B:Cool.
Speaker B:We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker A:Thanks, everyone.
