Learn from the world champions – strategies that worked on the bike for Lucy Charles-Barclay and Sam Laidlow

The adage has always been “bike for show, run for dough,” but those days are changing. Both Sam Laidlow and Lucy Charles-Barclay posted the day’s fastest bike splits to take the world title this year. (And, yes, they also put together impressive runs – fourth-fastest for Charles-Barclay, sixth-fastest for Laidlow.) The world championship races in 2023 certainly showed that things are changing in the sport – for both the champions the saying should really be changed to “swim and bike for show, then run fast enough to keep the dough.”

Kona Coverage: Recapping the incredible women’s racing at the Ironman World Championship

Laidlow set a new bike course record in Kona last year, but it wasn’t exactly expected that his proficiency on the Kona course would make for a dominant day in Nice. The courses couldn’t be any more different. The Nice course, with over 2,400 m of climbing, includes some long climbs in the first 60 km with some wicked descents over the final 40 km. The Kona course has over 1,700 m of elevation gain, but other than the long climb up to Hawi to the turnaround, most of that elevation gain comes on the rolling hills along the Queen K. What can make the Kona course truly challenging are the typically strong winds – although this year the athletes were blessed with as windless a race day as we’ve ever seen on the Big Island.

Mentally tough

Aerodynamics are the name of the game when it comes to the Kona course. Being able to stay down in an aero tuck for as much of the ride makes all the difference. The course is hardly technical – other than some turns early in the course through Kailua-Kona, the majority of the race is simply an out-and-back drag along the Queen K highway and the road up the hill to Hawi.

This year Charles-Barclay did her final training block at home in London, England, which meant that a lot of her training was done indoors on Zwift.

“On this type of course, it helps to train indoors because it’s straight out and back,” Charles-Barclay said after her record-setting day in Kona. “It’s a really productive way to train – it’s time efficient and it makes you mentally tough.”

What also put Charles-Barclay in the driver’s seat in Kona was the fact that she shut the door on her competition early. Daniela Ryf, a four-time champion in Kona, routinely uses her impressive bike skills and power to pull away from the rest of the women over the last 80 km of the bike course – the descent from Hawi and the final stretch along the Queen K, which typically offers up some stiff headwinds. This year Ryf made a go at getting up to the front on the way up to Hawi, but Charles-Barclay was just too far ahead, so Ryf never got herself in a position to use her normal race-winning strategy.

The race in Nice next year will be a different scenario. Ryf says she’s done racing in Kona, but you can be sure she’ll be on the line in Nice next year, eager to use all the bike skills she’s developed from years of riding in the Swiss mountains to her advantage.

All-around prowess

Laidlow put his stamp on the day in Nice early, but his true mastery of the bike course was his ability to excel on the long, steep climbs as well as the rolling sections up in the mountains, and then later on the descent. Laidlow and countryman Clement Mignon surged away from the rest of the field on the climbs, but it was once they had hit the “flatter” (remember, this is the Alps) part of the course that Laidlow really started to pull clear of the rest of the field.

Sam Laidlow nails Nice with huge Ironman World Championship win

In other words, the young Frenchman rode like a guy who has grown up riding in the mountains. He can climb with the best, but then get himself into an aero tuck and power away from the rest of the field. Add to that some impressive descending chops and you have the perfect package for the day’s top bike split.

The sad news for Laidlow’s competition in Kona next year is that he feels he’s even better on the Kona course than he is on the one in Nice.