Official 2022 UTMB Discussion Thread

Race is underway. Kilian looks comfortable in second at the moment.

Yeah then he stepped in the weeds to take a leak during the live coverage - great stuff!

kind of expected jon albon to crush the field in CCC. he sits in 3rd right now, near the finish.

Holy cow Pau has already jumped the field and is going for broke - only 100ish miles to go. Bold!

Looks like Adidas is making a real push into the Ultra/Trail scene. They've been sponsoring athletes for a while, but whatever shoe they are wearing this week is working better than the old junk.

kilian and jim rolling out front

On the coverage I'm watching it's Kilian and Pau rolling out front. Can't tell where Jim is.

Jim is sitting back in third off the pace. Super smart.

pau is there too. its strange because i don't see jim in all the shots, but he is there (wearing long tights, strangely)

ah, i was confusing zach miller and pau (similar stature and dress today).

jim in 3rd, zach in 4th

Where are all the Kenyans that were supposed to be taking over the sport?

That was short lived. After the first downhill Jim is now leading followed closely by Kilian. Jim is dressed like a ninja for some reason. He has poles which seems to be a new thing for him.

And just like that Jim jumped them into the lead on the descent to St Gervais. Game on!

Yeah I'm perplexed by the Ninja-wear, but go get it Jim!

Good move with the tights. Some people are affected more when it gets cold, especially the skinny and tall due to high surface area to weight ratio. It's happened before to him several times, and he's anticipating that now.

Roglic suffering yesterday in a cold wet stage in the Vuelta is an example, as well as that cold, wet year at Boston when Linden and Kawauchi won.

I like the all-black kit. Leggings are a choice, but I suspect he's got a plan/reason for them.

Jim has had some real problems getting super cold at night at UTMB. Hopefully his new clothing strategy pays off. It does look weird though.

Boom, just like that a lead group of 5 is leaving St Gervais within strides of each other.

Every year I'm always amazed at how the video feed at UTMB is better than it is for the major marathons in the US that get decent TV coverage, Boston and NYC. Like here they are, in the mountains of France, middle of damn nowhere and they can get a stable feed...yet on the streets of one of the most populous cities in the world (NYC), NBC can't manage to get a consistent feed without it shaking or cutting out.