Spartacus, Tornado Tom, and Chrissie?
When triathletes meet cyclists, triathletes hold the home field advantage, and triathletes always win. This, because whenever the two meet, it's in a triathlon. Usually in an Ironman.
Udo Bolts, Laurent Jalabert, Chan McCrae, and others have all raced the Ironman, and the length of the event; the swim beforehand; and the fear of the marathon looming in the future; mean triathletes not only always win, they always outsplit professional cyclists during the cycling leg.
But this is different. Triathletes are now going to meet on the cyclists' home turf. Stage-7 of the Amgen Tour of California features a 2-lap, 21-mile individual TT, and, just prior to the commencement of the official cycling version, triathletes will pre-run the course, officially, and for time.
Four triathletes will take part. Well, three-and-a-half. The three are Chrissie Wellington, Chris McCormack, and Chris Lieto. The "half" is Slowtwitch publisher, yours truly, partway through a series describing the Cannondale Slice currently being assembled and prepared for this event (link below).
Of the two male professional triathletes, Chris Lieto owns the more expansive pure cycling pedigree, and is considered among the very fastest cycling triathletes in the world.
"I have done stage races in the past and have excitement and great respect for the guys who ride in the Tours. Especially in the big Tours, and the Tour of California is ranked up there with all the Tours in Europe as well. Much different than the stage racing I have done in my side career," said Lieto to slowtwitch. "I probably don’t see myself placing top 10 and I’d be pretty blown away if I would get that."
The former Hawaiian Ironman champ "Macca" is not coming into this cold. He raced in the Amgen Tour of California prologue two years ago, and recalls in an interview on his upcoming Amgen ToC performance (link below), "I raced bikes growing up and am technically very good on a bike. I raced my first 6 years as a pro triathlete in Europe, which are technical courses in their own right. I think the race will be fun, I intend to ride as hard as I can but understand that my training in no way suits the demands that this event is asking of me."
About his chances, Macca admits, "I think these guys will absolutely destroy me." Nevertheless, about his counterpart, "I think Chris Lieto will do very well in this event. I know Chris and he will take this very seriously. He is in a different training phase to me and looks like he is targeting shorter events, which will suit this race distance."
Lance versus Lieto: This time it's for real.
Lieto "raced" Lance Armstrong earlier this year, in an impromptu TT on the Kona Coast, while each was independently there training. There was a Slowtwitch forum discussion describing the event, which Armstrong only narrowly won. Certain Slowtwitch observers familiar with both bike racing and triathlon think Lieto will do very well.
"Yes, these triathletes will probably be in triathlon training mode," said longtime pro triathlete and former bike racer Mark Montgomery. "But the cyclists will have raced for six hard consecutive days, including the queen stage just the day before. I predict Lieto's time will place him in the top-10 of the cycling field."
