The Ironman World Championship 2023 in Nice France course has been released with roughly 8,000 ft climbing. Assuming both bikes have a dialed bike fit and the rider is adapted to the bike position, I’m curious how one would decide between road or TT bike and which would be faster?
A few years back I believe Gustav Iden won the Nice 70.3 on a road bike while most pros were racing on TT bikes.
What will the pros ride? Should age groupers follow suit or are there different considerations for the mortals?
Assuming it is the same (or almost the same) course as the 2022 IM Nice route, I think a TT bike is still the right choice…there is a ~20km climb early on, but then there is a fairly long flat section, followed by a descent and then a flat stretch back into Nice.
Route comparison video…
Yes, the course will be slower than Kona, but I don’t see any reason to ride a road bike over a TT bike.
Its not the tool, its the user…
Iden on an aluminum road bike with mechanical 10 speeds would beat mostly any non pro on any bike the non pro would chose.
I love my TT bike, but it sucks for climbing and descending. I have a friend doing this race and he is using his TT bike, I would use the road bike just because I can climb better on the road bike and I can descend with more confidence on the road bike. But to really decide you would have to put numbers to both.
