Especially if he was riding on low pressure from early on as Frodo suggests. I think Ali is more than capable of winning there he needs a bit of time going long. I heard one of his ITU coaches say yesterday that we have to remember he really hasn’t done much running in the last few years. I think going longer will help hs durability TBH
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Wonder if AB was riding tubeless as he had a soft tyre for that long ie. it sealed on the go. By Hawi maybe he decided enough was enough.
Someone said on Slowtwitch that they’d heard he was riding tubeless for the first time ever in the race, dunno if that’s true or not though
Still - burning a load of matches to catch back up to Frodo and TOD rather than accept the bad luck of the puncture and wait for the train behind smacks of hot-headedness.
After all his talk of taking things sensibly, that wasn’t sensible. I guess rolling in outside the top 20 is going to be quite humbling so let’s wait to see if he ever repeats it. Then we can really jump on him 
Up until then he’d been sitting in quite well so maybe just felt good at the time.
Makes sense as an explanation. Although using something for the first time in Kona, definitely doesn’t make sense!
Once Lange was out, that was it. The win was squarely where Frodeno was, he saw the win going up the road and chased…hard.
Amberger couldn’t have been far behind, could have waited for him. 20/20 hindsight 
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Skipper looked absolutely destroyed coming over the line, seems like he dug pretty deep for that run - he had the double motivation of Currie coming up from behind and people ahead to reel in. Great to see him go one better than last year, especially given his injuries this year. Be interesting to see if he felt Wales or the heat or lack of running this year impacted him on the run.
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I wish Joe still posted here.
According to Amberger’s report he went past AB when he stopped, then AB blew past him like a sonic boom soon after!
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Yeah with the benefit of hindsight he should have soft pedalled for a bit then latched onto the Wurf/Kienle/Sanders/Skipper group when they caught him. Especially as they all caught him just before T2 when he blew anyway.
Maybe he doesn’t like discourse 
Is Joe undefeated in triathlons against both AB and Gomez? Can’t think if he would’ve come up against Gomez previous to Kona last year.
Does anyone else feel like the last two editions have been a bit of a procession on the run? The last exciting race was actually 2017 with the bikers off the front and LIONel trying to hold off Lange.
Another amusing one for those not on insta…
#imwc race report
Swim. Good start but bunched up behind. I speculate who’s there; probably not Wurf. Going as planned. Stroke stroke stroke breathe. Rough calculations pin 900x more repetition. 900 forms of distraction required. Finally, Body Glove boat. Can smell bacon cook up. Firm distraction found. Kona pier arrives. No attempted manoeuvres made for lead out glory, no one gets hurt. Win/win.
1st onto bike. Jig around town done, onto QK. I tongue my moustache. Frodo requests assistance. Lol cancel that boy. Clavel takes lead. Clavel supertucks. Clavel supertuck pedals. Clavel superwhatthefuck. You’re going to die mate. Lead group thinning. Kawaihae, Kawaibye. Up to Hawi we go. Off the back of the group. Pace hotter than Bob Babbitt’s chair during a 6 hour breakfast sit at Huggo’s. Ali flats. Unexpected company. Ali passes with somicboom effect. Ali gone. Never liked his company anyway, toodleloo. Catch a fast fading Clavel. Finally someone with more inflated confidence than me. Wurf pain train catching. Pain train becomes slain train. Spat out. I tongue my moustache, overhang definitely on the move. Christ Ironman is long. Run. Off to a good start, still some life left. On 2:50 pace. Palani minces legs to salami. Pace slowing on QK. Stomach in knots. Need to crap. To stop? Yeah, keep it clean. Last time was nasty. Almost lost race belt down dark well of pestilence & malodor. Breaking 3 becomes breaking 2+2=4. Any longer & they will be bringing me glowsticks. Contemplate SAG home. Guts in severe pain. Evaluated chances of finishing equal to Patrick Lange. Spotted a sedentary Patrik Nilsson. Invitation to run declined on account of withdrawal. Disgusted, a pledge to finish was made. Post-after party is where real suffering begins. This is nothing. Self-talk positivity reverberates with generic American accent ‘YOU GOT THIS!’ Sticky hot asphalt making funny noises on my shoes. I’m sure that’s where I pissed myself on the way out. Finish line here. Get shoed away before Haug crosses, a single shred of dignity remaining. Could be worse. Last time I finished with shit in my suit. This I’m time finishing as just a metaphorical shit. Mahalo 
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He’d probably feel uncomfortable with the adulation; this isn’t Slowtwitch after all 
love this guy
Cheers, it works
So I completely missed this on Saturday. Avoided the result and watched no coverage at all.
I have however spent my morning catching up with this thread. Well done guys enjoyed reading that. Off to watch some highlights now 
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anyone that has seen him at a finish line knows how screwed he is, he has an ability to just push that little bit more or harder and would probably die before quitting.
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that again stems to my above post of rather die than quit. He is what we should see of athletes, Its not about taking the easy option and rolling in 5th, its shit of bust and I love that attitude. You don’t win races without taking a risk
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Man, that’s some dedication!!! the thread is up over 1.2k posts!!!
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