Sam Laidlow signs with Canyon
Kona bike course record finally gets a bike sponsor
Photo by:
@canal_isation/ Canyon Instagram
Add another big name European to the Canyon bicycle ranks – the German company has signed Kona runner-up Sam Laidlow, according to an Instagram post from the Frenchman.
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In the video Laidlow is seen testing out his new Speedmax CFR bike with Hed wheels at a velodrome. Last year, in Kona, Laidlow rode a Trek Speed Concept frame, although the company was not listed as one of his sponsors.
Related: The Gear that helped Sam Laidlow set a new bike course record in Kona
Laidlow, who was born in Great Britain but grew up in France (he moved there when he was three – his parents started a triathlon training centre in the Pyrenees), first gained recognition as a potential long-distance star when he took second to Joe Skipper at Ironman UK in 2021. While he had a series of steadily improving performance in 2022, including an eighth-place finish at the Ironman World Championship St. George and a pair of fourth-place finishes at the Professional Triathletes Organisation Canadian and US Opens, he gained a lot of notoriety over a war of words with American Sam Long at the Collins Cup. Laidlow was beaten handily by both Lionel Sanders and Long in their matchup at the Collins Cup.
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All of which made Laidlow’s stirling performance in Kona a suprise for many triathlon fans. Coming second out of the water, he set a new bike course record with his 4:04:35 split and followed that up with the day’s fifth-fastest marathon (2:44:39). That was enough to get him across the line in second behind Gustav Iden and ahead of Kristian Blummenfelt. The first four men across the line (including fourth-place finisher Max Neumann) all broke the previous course record.
We’ll no-doubt see Laidlow at many of the PTO Series races, along with a return to the world championship (in Nice) in 2023.
