Eh? Feels like I’ve missed something massive!?
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Right. Well all that conjecture aside. Let’s go for a classic kona-esque prediction off…
Is this a 7pm start tomorrow?
For the men, think women start at 3.
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Yep what he said 
Trying to think of my own top 3! 
Really unsure on the ladies, as I’ve not followed 1/2 distance so well. Will have to have a think about that, and another look at the start list.
Mens. 
I’m gonna go with Ali for the win. He looks like he has the fire again. Gomez 2nd. Sanders 3rd.
Such a hard call!
Wonderful idea for an Oly/Full smack down…just not sure this is it…looking at line-up…
Anyway, VL vs AB vs LS surely…
But maybe the mercurial GG will surprise everyone…
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Impossible to call, no form to call on, unknown impact of the 20m draft and no idea who has been prepping specifically for months vs there for an end of season Hail Mary and jolly up.
Ali looks to have the tools, front pack swim, bike engine and run speed looks at least some way back. Just got this horrible feeling he’ll have Iden and maybe a Kanute or some other bolter in touch. Iden looked VERY confident, and Luis might be the best triathlete on the planet right now. Have written off JB, Lionel, Gomez and Sebi so at least one of those will podium.
Weather is not too hot so have to go AB but with low confidence.
Word is Holly Lawrence looks ripped, but she kind of seems an unknown still. Can’t even guess here, but at least we’ll see a race rather then Ryf tapping out a training session for the win.
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Spot on @TROSaracen. Pretty much everything that went through my head. I just have a tendency to go for a fave and a fee outsiders. If you could ever call my other two outsiders! Rvb went well at last year’s worlds, and that Sam Long chap talks the game. He seems to have no fear about blowing, and that could be dangerous!
As you say, all in all it could be bleddy anyone from a long long list!
Sebi is saying he has a calf injury but is going to go for it anyway.
Whats the format?
The pto website says “100km”…
2k/80k/18k
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Kinda like a half then 
Are any/all of them familiar with that format?
And for that reason, no way the non front pack swimmers will have a chance. There’s talk of a high chance of some of the non-front pack (both M and F) being a lap down in the bike from the off.
The 20m draft zone is going to mean passing the pace lines is going to be so so hard for anyone trying to make up ground. (eg, a pace line of 20 athletes is c400m you need to push big watts to pace the whole line - I’m assuming it’s the normal rules of, if you start you must finish, otherwise you get pinged)
Luis on the mens side is obviously strong, but this is long for him versus the superleague short stuff he’s done well at the last few years, and apparently has little experience on a TT bike. I feel hell lose touch on the bike. Can’t really see past Ali.
I can see Iden going well. This kind of terrain is similar to Bahrain, and he still went under 3:30 and broke the WR back in 2018 despite being second. His TT skills are the main thing that worry me.
On the women’s side, I do see Holly going well.
As it’s PTO, all the automatic qualifiers are 70.3 and full distance athletes as that’s how those rankings are based. Challenge and the PTO have then mixed it up by giving a number of ITU athletes wildcards. Hence the comment above about people like Vincent Luis being very much an unknown quantity on a TT bike.
This is going to be a very fast bike split, and w/kg is going to be much less important than w/cda. The strong athletes who are dialled into a TT position will go well, whereas I feel a strong athlete with a poor aero setup could struggle. It’s the concern with Iden, as despite his performance in Bahrain, that’s at 12m so still quite a bit of benefit sitting behind a relative unit like KB punching a hole in the air. It’s not like the 70.3 worlds where you have any chance for the terrain to stir things up. This is effectively a 50TT
Followed by an hour at max pace.
Makes me feel sick!
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At least the swim will be a gentle cruise…
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I can’t see past Ali and Holly topping the podiums. Both have putting in some fearsome training just for this race.
However, it’s 2020, and nothing is what it seems this year!
I am not quite as faithful. Hopeful, yes. 
Allegations made by Sonny Garcia against Macca on Instagram. Google it.
There’s not much to it apart from allegations.
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