Not much details but sad news obviously
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Very grim.
It was a head on crash between two cyclists on a narrow section, so almost certainly one was doing an overtake on the wrong side.
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See my race report from IM Wales - the no overtake zone was ignored by a significant minority of riders. It can be frustrating being stuck behind a slow rider, however, these no overtake zones are put in place for a reason. In Wales they were not policed, overtaking in a no overtake zone should be instant DQ and potentially a ban from IM for a period. Head on crashes where both riders are close to 40kph will always be serious
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Terrible news, I actually gather the 70.3 has been binned next year.
There’s a few pinch points on that course, particularly if there’s 3K athletes on the course!
I guess these no overtake zones need to be made sufficiently narrow and separated i.e. 3 narrow coned lanes.
Did Hamburg have such a zone? I’ve defintely done an IM with one.
Yes, there was a really narrow section coming back into the port, had to go under a bridge, with a right turn immediately after, with riders both directions, there was about 100m of no overtake before the bridge until after the right turn
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Was there one on the cobbled section as well? I might be thinking of Maastricht though.
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You have a good memory! All I remember is how awesome the dyke road out & back was 
Oh, and the cobbles, the train tracks, the carpets…
Has it? Grrr, that’s what I was intending to use my IM Spain credit on.
Might just let it expire now.
ETA - ah, they’ve moved Marbella to the October slot. I always found it weird it was originally a week or two before Mallorca. Will look to do that if I can string together some swimming and running this winter.
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I was stuck behind a group of slower riders, and pissed off that I couldn’t overtake, then a motorbike passed me and nearly took me out
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ST reports a eye witness saying it was a rider moving wide to overtake a peloton
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Would Valencia work for you?
Read the in ST, sound horrendous. The person who posted said that there was no line in the centre of the road, so the guy going wide was not at fault… we all should know that crossing the centre line does not mean that the centre line needs to be marked.
If the post is true - one lane open to traffic, riders in the other lane riding both directions, in a zone where overtaking is allowed, with no centre line and no cones, seems scarcely conceivable. In my experience, IM do take safety pretty seriously.
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Looking at valencia only probs can not see direct flights from up north only gatwick direct
Off the top of my head I can’t think of a narrow section if it’s the same as the Barcelona IM course and 70.3 athletes were on it with me in 2021 so I think it is.
The only narrow parts were in Calella proper, in and out of transition, which were one way with speed bumps and no overtaking.
I vaguely remember a section where it’s a shared single lane that was coned off but some near misses?
Was about 10k in I think?
In theory they could both be doing 40kph plus!
There was a bit just leaving town (I was spectating the race) where it was no overtaking, no aerobars in the rules, very clearly. The road was coned down the middle to divide the returning 70.3 athletes from the departing IM athletes.
Saw dozens weaving through the cones onto the other side to make an overtake.
Sometimes whatever safety measures are taken it doesn’t protect you from stupidity.
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I don’t remember that being single lane but happy to defer
You can only defer if you entered in the first 90 days I’m afraid.
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