Dirk Bockel – wild card
Last year, if not for a 4-minute penalty on the bike, Dirk Bockel likely would have shaken up the duel for the win at the Ironman World Championship. Even with time and momentum lost, Bockel swam right near the front in 51:12, biked just within six minutes of McCormack, Andreas Raelert, Vanhoenacker, Tissink and Bracht. And, after expending red-zone energy and adrenaline making up for time lost, Bockel still managed to close with a 2:52:01 marathon which brought him home a disappointing 8th.
While the Luxembourg competitor with the aerodynamic shaved head dropped off the radar, looking at his excellent all-around game and potential to swim and ride off the front and finish with a strong run give the man who broke away on the bike at the 2008 Olympics a shot at stardom this time around.
Bockel was felled by a cramp while leading with just 200 meters to go this year at Abu Dhabi, and has had support from sponsors to focus on Kona. While the world may be focused on Alexander, Vanhoenacker, Van Lierde and Raelert, Dirk Bockel could be the man making the difference.
Slowtwitch: If not for that penalty, you might have done something great at Kona last year.
Dirk Bockel: Yeah. After serving that four minute penalty, closing that gap within 20 miles was plenty hard. Once I closed the gap, I took a breath and rode with Crowie's chase group. Then on the way down from Hawi, I recovered a little bit and put another three minutes into that group. So it was seven minutes I made up on that group – [and almost caught up with the Macca-Tissink-Raelert group.]
ST: Might you have shaken up the final results if you had not been stopped for the penalty?
Dirk: It is hard to say afterwards. But I know what I can do. The penalty came a little bit unexpected. And it was certainly not fair. It was my first penalty in 22 years of triathlon. It was a bummer for me. But you know what? I still managed a top 10 with this handicap. So this year I have a lot of confidence.
ST: Doesn’t playing catch up like that take away from your run?
Dirk: Absolutely, if you have to do so much over pace and close the gap in a short amount of time to get back in the race. And then to break away again, which is an unplanned double effort.
ST: How far were you back of the guys who decided the race?
Dirk: I was one and a half minutes behind him (Macca). But I had expended so much energy… I could not close that gap. It is all theory now. But it was such a big handicap and I expended so much effort, and I still ran a 2:52 marathon to finish 8th. It shows that I was in great shape. And obviously I could not show what could have been.
ST: Does it still hurt?
Dirk: We were very close to the podium and it hurts my ego. The WTC also hurts my ego this year by giving me number 33 for a well deserved 8th place last year. A couple of things are happening with the WTC are not going as well as I'd hoped they would be. I wish they heard our voices better.
ST: What are the issues for you?
Dirk: It's not all about the money. It's about making this a win-win situation. But now being number 33, you sacrifice a lot. In transition you are quite a bit far back. With that number people don't know who you are. The returning top 10 finishers wearing the top 10 numbers is a tradition here in Kona. There is nothing to do about it this year. But Hey! Racing with anger might give me a lot of motivation this year. So I am ready for a great performance.
ST: What was your strategy leading up to Kona this year?
Dirk: This year I didn’t do as many races and I have focused on Kona. I was 3rd in Abu Dhabi and just 25 seconds back of the winner. It was the first time in my life I got cramps.
ST: At what point in the race?
Dirk: Basically 150 meters from the finish. That is when two people passed me. I was in the lead and then Frederik Van Lierde and Marino passed me. What was even worse was, like I said, I put my cards all in at Abu Dhabi. Afterwards, I worked hard. Spent a very calm summer. Didn’t race much. Did this and that, but it was all on Kona. Yes it is a risk.
ST: Did your sponsors agree that you weren't going to make many appearances, that you were all in on Kona?
Dirk: K-Swiss and Blue bicycles and Shimano are my three biggest sponsors. They all said that Kona is the Tour de France of our sport. Take care of Kona like the Schleck brothers take care of the Tour de France. I thank them for their great support and I hope for the result I've been dreaming of all my life. Hopefully it will happen this year.
ST: What sorts of workouts have you been doing?
Dirk: It is always hard to say. It is giving away a lot of secrets. I have signed up for SRM printouts so people can see what I have been putting out at the moment. It’s going to be a big effort at Kona. But the big partial numbers don't count. It's about the average. Not about the power they see you putting out in certain conditions. It's just not about the power. It’s not about the time in Kona. It's about the end result.
ST: So how does that change the strategy?
Dirk: If we raced for time, we wouldn’t do certain things like pacing the first hour of the bike so hard. Which can destroy three quarters of the field. That's why I am absolutely going to be part of that initiative at the start of the bike. You want to hurt those people early. It's a long day. But as much as you want to pace yourself, you know you don’t want to run with Crowie. He is in exceptional shape.
ST: He is better on the bike.
Dirk: You know, I was very surprised about his bike at Las Vegas as well. He is a real good biker. But this was his best bike ever. Now he is on a new bike again [Alexander just signed a contract with Specialized, after racing in Las Vegas with a Cervelo P4.] So we will see how he adapts. Personally, I don't know if 10 days is enough time to fully adapt to that bike.
ST: How strong is your bike now?
Dirk: To me my new Blue bike is the best I've ever had. They are in Atlanta Georgia. I definitely have the prettiest horse out on the course. I've made a contest on Twitter about it. If [Fabian] Cancellara would see that paint job on that bike! I tell you no one in the Tour de France had a paint job that nice. This bike is very special. I get a lot of media for it. This is to say thank you to that sponsor. But it will go fast I promise you that.
ST: How will your race develop at Kona?
Dirk: I will be probably be around 48 minutes in the swim. Last year I was second out of the water. But it's not about that. You cannot win the race in the swim. But you can lose the race. Really, the point is very simple. You have to hurt the people with a hard swim and a hard first hour and a half on the bike. After all that, there will be maybe 12 people instead of 25 people. And once we come back to transition, we are only 10 people. Then you have to run. So the race will be a process of natural selection.
ST: What is your best Ironman run?
Dirk: I ran maybe 2:51 in Ironman Florida last year four weeks after Kona. Like I said, the times don't count. The conditions can be so brutal, the fastest run time of the day can be 2:50. But on a very cool day 2:50 brings you maybe 10th. It's about the humidity. It's about the temperature. It's about the wind and the team tactics.
ST: How important is it to know your opponents?
Dirk: There are couple of secrets in tactics people will use. It is pretty clear you have to have a great swim a great bike and a great run. And its just a long day.
ST: Yes that is of course generally true. But how do you adapat to particular opponentrs?
Dirk: There are people like Lieto who put everything on the bike. There are people like Potts who put everything on the swim. You know Crowie will put everything on the run. Those are their tendencies and you have to adapt. Everybody has their own tactics and we will have to see what comes out on Saturday.
ST: Can you win Kona?
Dirk: I think my chances are pretty high I might win. That is my dream. The question is will it happen this year or not? I am in the shape of my life. Now I am in a good position to act. It is up to the guy in the sky and I hope he will allow us to go well on the day.
