IM Kona 2015 – men bike pics
Enjoy this gallery of bike images from the men's race at the 2015 GoPro Ironman World Championships where German Jan Frodeno triumphed. We will do our annual detailed top 15 bike feature later, but here are bike segment impressions from yesterday.
As the men returned from Hawi the front group had shrunk significantly, and was led here by Jan Frodeno.
German Andreas Raelert rode 4:30:52 on the way to finish second.
After a strong swim American Andy Potts was near the front most of the day. His bike split in Kona was 4:32:41.
The defending champion Sebastian Kienle was expected to ride away from the field, especially after his string swim, but that did not materialize. Kienle rode a very strong 4:25:23 on the way to 8th place.
Canadian Brent McMahon also was near the front most of the day, and he rode 4:27:51 and finished 9th.
A 5 minute penalty likely created Tim Don some emotional stress too. But he hung in there and finished finished 15th after a 4:38:36 bike effort – including that penalty.
German Andreas Böcherer was considered by many a dark horse for this race. He rode 4:27:58 and then struggled during the run.
The fastest men's bike split of 4:25:10 belonged to German Maik Twelsiek.
A well rounded day surrounding a 4:30:48 bike split gave Boris Stein 10th place and made him the 4th German in the top 10.
After a slow 1:01:10 swim, a hump backed Lionel Sanders rode a moderate 4:35:17 bike split.
Frederik van Lierde was up front most day and rode 4:27:18 but had to walk sections of the run.
Aussie Luke McKenzie looked great early on but fell away on the way back from Hawi and did not finish.
Tyler Butterfield from Bermuda grabbed 5th place after a 4:29:35 bike effort.
American Timothy O'Donnell broke away on the way back from Hawi and looked strong enough all day to possibly snag the win. He finished 3rd overall after a 4:26:13 bike split.
Head down for Romain Guillaume for a 4:31:12 bike time.
American Ben Hoffman who finished second last year was aggressive on the way out to Hawi and rode 4:28:51, but he fell apart during the run.
Belgian Marino Vanhoenacker also did not have the day he wanted. He rode 4:27:26 and then did not finish the run.
A 4:27:56 bike split helped Eneko Llanos to be the top placed Spanish athlete in Kona.
For American Jordan Rapp this was not the Kona race he had imagined and that is likely also true for that 4:39:22 bike split
The 2015 GoPro Ironman World Championship champion Jan Frodeno during the bike segment where he rode 4:27:27.
French athlete Cyril Viennot on the way to 6th place after a 4:34:27 bike time.
Ivan Rana biked 4:45:42 and then ran 2:51:56 on the way7 to 12th.
For Fraser Cartmell the day started well with a 52:26 swim but he only rode 5:12:57 and that made for a long day.
After a relative slow swim Brit Joe Skipper had a 4:28:34 bike time and then ran to 13th place.
American Matt Hanson crashed hard early on coming into the Hot Corner and broke his frame and injured his wrist. He decided to continue the race however and ended up on a bike from SRAM neutral support.
German Nils Frommhold was among the favorites here after winning Challenge Roth this year, but a flat tire right out of transition derailed his plans.
Belgian Bart Aernouts also had big goals for this race but that never fell in place.
Canadian Jeff Symonds had a mechanical problem that cost him time. His bike time subsequently ended up being 5:04:05, but he ran 2:50:15 to close out his day.
Aussie Tim Van Berkel came here with great aspirations and in very good form, but things do not always fall in place.
Kona rookie Callum Millward from New Zealand on the way to a 4:45:41 bike split but he did not finish.
All images © Herbert Krabel / slowtwitch.com
