DATEV Challenge Roth have announced that the draft distance will be raised from 12 metres to 20 metres for this year’s professional races.

The topic has been a matter of much debate in the last couple of seasons, especially as 20 metres has been the norm in T100 racing for some time where it has been used in conjunction with the RaceRanger anti-draft technology.

That has been met with widespread approval, with the racing felt to be fairer as a result, and while IRONMAN remain at 12 metres, they have conducted a trial with a group of professionals recently and also have additional plans for in-event testing early this year. [UPDATE: IRONMAN announce switch to 20 metres]

But historically it is Challenge Family who have led the way – back in 2014 they implemented the 20-metre rule at Challenge Bahrain and then in 2017 for their high-profile ‘The Championship’ race.

However their biggest event, Challenge Roth, has been the exception to the rule at 12 metres because of the looped nature of the bike course and the fact that many age-groupers are mixed in with the action after the first lap.

However it has used RaceRanger technology and became the first race to publish that data for the pros after the 2025 edition.

And now comes the next significant step…

Will it lead to ‘increased fairness’?

Their press release explained: “In 2026, a new drafting rule will apply to professionals on the bike course: the distance will be increased from 12 to 20 metres. This was decided by the organiser in consultation with the association. The DATEV Challenge Roth team would like to test in 2026 whether this measure further increases fairness in the professional field.”

Explaining the rationale, the statement said: “The reason behind the decision is the changing speeds in the professional field. From the early days of Challenge Roth in the early 2000s to today, the cycling time in Roth has been reduced by almost 30 minutes, which naturally has an impact on the effect of slipstreaming when cycling.

“While Thomas Hellriegel, known as ‘The Hell on Wheels’, took 4:24:05 hours to complete the 180 km bike course in Roth in 2002, the top male professionals now regularly complete the course in under four hours.

“The difference is even more striking among the women. In 2002, the very best women took well over five hours. The current best cycling time in Roth is now 4:22 hours.”

Roth is renowned as the quickest full-distance race in the world but that same pattern has played out through the rest of triathlon’s long-distance landscape, including the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.

‘Between 20 and 50 watts saved’

Three-time Roth winner Magnus Ditlev’s comments in a recent podcast with Pro Tri News were also cited when he claimed: “On a straight stretch at 45 km/h, a draft distance of 12 metres in third or fourth position can save between 20 and sometimes up to 50 watts.”

Challenge Roth Race Director Felix Walchshöfer added: “We are in constant communication with the professional athletes. Many professionals who will be competing in 2026 have approached us with the request to increase the drafting zone from 12 to 20 metres. After discussing it internally and with the association, we agreed: Let’s test it in 2026 and see how this measure affects the competition under real conditions. Thank you to the DTU and the BTV for the very constructive coordination.”

Jan Philipp Krawczyk, Vice President of Refereeing and Events at the German Triathlon Union, is also keen to see how things play out, explaining: “Roth offers ideal conditions for testing this adjustment. For us as an association, it will be exciting to see how a larger draft distance in the professional field affects the course of the race. We look forward to evaluating the experiences together after the race.”

Why the rule does not apply to age groupers?

The adjustment of the draft zone for 2026 is deliberately designed as a trial in the professional field. For the age group sector, the existing rule will remain unchanged for the time being.

“We clearly see this adjustment as a test,” said Walchshöfer. “In the professional field, we have very high, similar speeds and a manageable starting field, which are ideal conditions for gaining insights. In the age groupers, the average speeds are lower, the slipstream effects are smaller and the fields are much larger. Transferring the rule would require massive interventions in the race structure.

“One thing must also be said, of course: in order to maintain the quality of the race at a top level, we do not generally increase the number of participants, even though we receive several thousand requests every year that we unfortunately cannot accept. If we were to enforce the 20-metre rule in the age group category as well, even fewer people would be able to experience the dream of Roth and we would have to significantly increase the entry fees. We do not want that. That is precisely why we are deliberately focusing on a controlled test in professional racing.”