The bike leg in a triathlon – especially over the middle and long distances – is becoming faster, and more crucial to get right than ever. Gone are the days where triathletes could ‘get away’ with being a slower rider. Let the front of the race get too far away on the bike, and you’ll have your work cut out to make up ground on the run. Case in point being Manoel Messias who ran an insane 2:26:50 marathon split at IRONMAN Brazil – and it still wasn’t enough to secure him the top spot on the podium!
Now, the pros essentially need to be single discipline specialists who just happen to be able to put all three sports together. With that in mind, we caught up with former pro cyclist and time trial specialist, Alex Dowsett, who’s recently started working as part of Kat Matthews’ team, to get his take on what triathletes can learn from the world of pro cycling to level up their bike splits – and on the flip side, what the pro peloton could learn from triathletes. Read on to get his insights, and find out why he reckons pro triathletes could stand a better chance at switching to pro cycling versus cyclists taking a turn at the swim-bike-run life!
Should the pro peloton adopt a triathlete’s pre-race routine?
Before we dove into Alex’s insights on the main thing he thinks triathletes could do to improve their bike splits. We were interested to find out what it’s been like for him to start working with Kat Matthews and – coming from a pro cycling background – if there’s anything he’s picked up from the triathlon world that he would have applied to his own pro racing career.
“It’s been a very rewarding coaching role for me so far, and one I jumped at when the opportunity arose.”
“In terms of what I could’ve learnt, Kat has a pre-race routine with nutrition that simply does not exist in pro cycling. I think that’s really interesting. I won’t go into detail though in case any of Kat’s competitors are reading!”
Triathletes need to optimise their TT bar set up so they hold their position
In triathlon, we’ve taken plenty of inspiration from pro cycling when it comes to marginal gains and an ‘aero is everything’ mentality. From tri suits to bike positions, optimising aero has become a huge focal point. And it makes sense – efficiency is a key part of being able to ride fast and still run strong off the bike. But an aero set up is no good if you can’t sustain it, or it puts a throttle on your power output.
“I watched my wife do IRONMAN Copenhagen in 2022,” says Alex, “and on the bike leg I noticed everyone had TT bars – but 60-70% of riders weren’t using them after the halfway point on the bike.”
“The TT bars in my opinion serve 2 purposes: one is the aero position for more speed. The second is complete rest for the upper body.”
“There’s a trend at the moment for super long, stretched out bike positions. Having spent an awful lot of time in a wind tunnel, I know this doesn’t work for everyone!”
Finding that balance between a TT position that’s aero, but comfortable and sustainable, is key. If you’ve got an aggressive set up, but you can’t actually hold it and you spend half of the 180km bike split in an Ironman distance triathlon sitting bolt upright. You’re probably costing yourself quite a lot of time, versus a more sustainable position you can actually stay in.
Alex Dowsett’s “virtual bike fit” advice for triathletes
Alex shared with us his top tips for triathletes looking to optimise their TT bar set up – a ‘virtual bike fit’ of sorts.
Get supportive arm rests
“Get some strong arm rests with a high outside support to lock your arms in place. Brands like Wattshop, Aerocoach and Drag2Zero have good options. Small, plastic flat arm rests can be dangerous on rough roads and you’ll need to work quite hard to stabilise and keep your elbows on them.”
Elbow placement matters
“Having your elbows slammed together doesn’t necessarily work aerodynamically for everyone. If you’re wanting to ‘shrug’ your shoulders to get your upper body more narrow when you’re down on the TT bars. Wider elbows can actually better enable this. You don’t want to go too wide though – around 15-20cm centre to centre between the arm rests is good.”
90 degrees
“Have your upper arms at 90 degrees to the ground. This takes all the load off any muscle input, and instead places it directly on the humerus bone.”
High arm rests and bars
“This is the most important part. You want high arm rests, so you can relax your spine and upper body. You’ll find your hands are closer to your face, and there’s less tension in your shoulders. Imagine doing a plank on the floor and pushing your spine, neck and head away from the ground versus letting it sink and taking that load off your back to support. This should be the goal for the TT bike. Handlebars high enough to sink in, with a hip angle that’s wide enough to produce the power required.”
Could pro triathletes make it in the cycling world?
We’ve seen the likes of Taylor Knibb and Paula Findlay dip a toe into the pro cycling world. And of course, the ‘Norwegian Hype Train’ were making some serious noises about pivoting to pro cycling before redirecting their path back to the triathlon start lines. So we were interested to get Alex’s take on whether pro triathletes could realistically mix it up in the pro peloton.
“I think the sheer workload of pro triathletes is higher than pro cyclists, which has enabled these riders to slot into pro cycling quite well. We know their engines are capable, that’s clear.”
“But it’s the nuances of the peloton, the strategy and the back to back stage racing which would put pro triathletes out of their comfort zone.”
“However, I do think pro triathletes have a higher chance of making it in pro cycling than the other way around. Historically, a lot of pro cyclists switch to triathlon after retiring from cycling and they expect to be at the sharp end immediately. The vast majority have only lasted around 2 years, because triathlon is so difficult. Cam Wurf [who was a pro cyclist] is the exception!”
