Alan Webb 3.5 hours from first world cup (abu dhabi) start, listen free online

I think the winners 14.03 is impressive. Imagine what this guy could do with a bit of 5k training and no swim & bike beforehand!

Boy you guys are full of excuses, aren't you? It is what it is -- he's not a top tier guy AT THIS LEVEL. The top guys don't make mistakes in transition, don't need an extra 1 second here or there, they already have them.

I hope he gets better, but this is not a positive outcome.

Hfhgfgfhghf wrote:

He was really close.

If by close you mean finishing 56th out of 59, 5 minutes back of the winner in a race that was won in 52 minutes, then yes, he was close.

He was only 15 seconds behind Brownlee on the swim. Brownlee made the lead pack on the bike. That would be a 2 second improvement/100m on the swim for Alan. Is that possible? It seems big...

So better T1 transition and...

a 1 second/100m improvement on the swim puts him with the "also ran", who may sometimes get lucky.

a 2 second/100m improvement on the swim puts him with the top guys...

Good luck with that 2 sec per 100m improvement. That will take 2 years. Time Alan does not have.

Keep in mind the leaders are doing a sprint but not their top speed. Alan appears to lack swim speed. And probably bike speed as well. In a sprint you cannot make up much on run.

Maybe it just was not his day. But if indicative of his speed and ability then not good. Someone better will come along soon with less fanfare and take his spots.

Wonder what will be next for him. Hanging it up is hard for everyone. I get a sense Alan will always be haunted by what he thinks could have been. Chasing dreams that are faster than you is heartbreaking to of and watch.

The slowest people to make the pack were 9:22 swim and :32 T1 (or 9:20/:34 for a couple others = same collective departure time out of T1). Alan was 9:24 and :36 so he needed 6 seconds somewhere to catch this departing train. Very close and I am sure he was chasing like mad. His T1 was not the issue. It really was his swim because there were many with the same T1 time as alan. It was on the slow side but not an issue like fumbling with his helmet strap for 10 seconds while everyone takes off type stuff.

After T1, and included in his first cycling split would be getting into his cycling shoes. This is tricky and may have posed a challenge as the others rode off. I am certain he has practiced that as well though. One of those tri things where, when under pressure, watching guys ride up the road away from you, can easily cost that crucial couple seconds if you panic.

About T1, depends which side alan had to run from with his bike. He may have been on the end near the bike mount line, which would be an advantage, where as Gomez and mola would have to run through the entire trans zone with their bikes. I only saw pics from twitter so I couldn’t see the exit flow. They’ll have a race recap video up soon.

His run time was solid relatively (time wise). 20k is not going to shoot your legs like a 40k solo tt. Lactate would build up at LT then dissipate a bit as he shared pulls with that other guy (if they weren’t all out for their turns on the front). Some run better off hard bikes anyway. And its not because their legs are fried. Its because they are primed. Psychologically though, this run was great. very important for alan. He is fragile psychologically and what he did shows he is hungry and that hunger over rode any discouragement from being in the back all day. He is fired up for tris. The other isreali athlete he rode with ran great too. they finished together. 15:02 and 15:04

About what this day means at this level, not a whole lot. He had better swims last year in very good and deep international fields. Lots of these guys were at those races he did well in, just not as many. WTS brings everyone out to play whereas the other races alan did last year, bring out a few.

He mentioned on his twitter that he indeed had a helmet strap issue in T1, which explains why he had the slowest T1 of the field.

However, he would have needed the fastest T1 of the field to make the chase group.

However, with an average T1 (say 33 seconds). He would have at least been able to ride with the 2 guys ahead of him. Being 3 guys riding together, they would have gone a bit faster. They most likely wouldn't have caught up to chase group however.

His problem was really the slow swim ( just 2 or 3 seconds too slow), compounded by the slow T1...

His final result looks horrible however.

Webb rode alone the whole way, and that surely cost him on the run too... Proof that the swim/T1 is pretty much pass/fail in these triathlons.

Oh well, is he still doing the ITU World Cup event next weekend?

There's no way that 14:03 is clean. Powered by EPO.

webb confirmed on twitter:

"That didn't go well. Slow T1 w/helmet issues cost me huge. Rode solo most of the way trashing my legs. Keep following to see if I learn."

A race gone because he couldn't buckle his helmet. costly lesson. bet the last time that happens

al arabiac oil well tri team wrote:

The other isreali athlete he rode with ran great too. they finished together.

Webb is israeli?

Seriously though who is this Spanish MFer running 14:03 after swimming and biking?

might be wejo wrote:

Seriously though who is this Spanish MFer running 14:03 after swimming and biking?

He's one of a few triathletes who can do this. Allistair and Jonathon Brownlee (GB) and Gomez (ESP) have all split b/w just under 14 and 14:15 a several times. Allistair being the best of them.

Here are two of the best finishes I've ever found. One of them includes today's winner and 2 of the guys mentioned above.

Last time problem with the helmet or last time excuses given?

I think Alan Webb needs lessons from Lance A.

I would not be too concerned over his performance today. I would hope to see steady improvement. Hopefully the Oly distance will work in his favor.

It certainly isn't "sad." It is exciting that he is already competing at this level. Following his dreams. So much better to try and fail then to never try.

I wish him all the best!

Disappointed to see him finish so far back, but still pretty amazing he can compete at a world level in a (relatively) different sport

Is our boy, Luke V getting any better?

elmore345 wrote:

I think the winners 14.03 is impressive. Imagine what this guy could do with a bit of 5k training and no swim & bike beforehand!

Maybe not much faster to be honest. A lot of these guys are so used to the stress of a multi event race and run great split times because of it. He may go 13:45 solo but maybe not an elite time.

Webb got his feet wet ( pun). Def will improve each race I say. 15:06 will get better also.