Bike splits at Challenge Roth
The A Cloud of a Doping Past story brought up the question how fast individual Pro cyclists would ride in a triathlon. Of course we can't ask a bunch of roadies now to drop everything they are currently doing and focus on triathlon, so as an alternative we decided to look closer at the fastest bike splits of triathletes at Challenge Roth over the years compared to those times of cyclists who rode the 112 miles as part of a relay. Obviously these cyclists did not have to swim, and also had no worries about saving their legs for the run, but it is one of those situations where folks from cycling compete with triathletes on the same course. Relays at Challenge Roth are actually very competitive and some teams shop for the fastest athletes in each category they can buy and get for the event.
It likely does not matter if you are a relay cyclist or an individual triathlete, when you reach this section of the course you will likely get goose bumps.
But as promised here is the comparison of the top bike splits in Roth over the years.
Top 10 bike splits by individual triathletes
1. Andreas Raelert (GER) 4:11:43 – 2011
2. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 4:12:46 – 2011
3. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 4:14:07 – 2010
4. Jürgen Zäck (GER) 4:14:16 – 1999
5. Norman Stadler (GER) 4:14:42 – 2009
6. Thomas Hellriegel (GER) 4:14:45 – 1997
7. Jürgen Zäck (GER) 4_14:52 – 1997
8. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 4:15:05 – 2013
9. Wolfgang Teuchner (GER) 4:16:01 – 2009 *
10. Thomas Hellriegel (GER) 4:16:04 – 1999
Top 10 bike splits in relay teams at Challenge Roth
1. Tobias Erler (GER) 3:59:11 – 2009 Men
2. Robert Wagner (GER) 4:00:27 – 2009 Men
3. Robert Wagner (GER) 4:12:00 – 2010 Men
4. Tobias Erler (GER) 4:12:40 – 2013 Mixed
5. Wolfgang Teuchner (GER) 4:12:55 – 2007 Men *
6. Rene Obst (GER) 4:13:04 – 2009 Men
7. Peter Renner (GER) 4:17:29 – 2013 Men
8. Christoph Von Kleinsorgen (GER) 4:19:10 – 2006 Men
9. Ralf Grabsch (GER) 4:19:49 – 2005 Men
10. Wolfgang Schober (GER) 4:20:32 – 2013 Mixed
You may not hear anything as you are coming through this human tunnel in Roth, but you are likely going faster than you should each time.
Dirk Bockel in action in Roth in 2013. He won the race and had the fastest bike split.
As we all know, triathletes still have to run and as a bonus we added some of the fastest run splits by relay runners in Roth. No surprises though to see runners run close to the times they would do otherwise, unlike cyclists who rarely do 56 or 112 mile time trials.
Some of the fastest relay runs in Roth
1. Amose Choge (KEN) 2:17:11 – 2009 Men
2. Barnabas Kenduiywo (KEN) 2:17:59 – 2008 Men
2. Douglas Mwiti (KEN) 2:19:10 – 2006 Men
* = Wolfgang Teuchner raced on the road as a cyclist and then switched to triathlon while still fairly young. Thus his name on both lists.
How fast do you think you could go?
