The Bikes of the Fastest Pro Riders in Kona 2024
It was the fastest riding day in IRONMAN World Championship history, with six finishers all beating the prior bike course record. (Trevor Foley was unlucky number 7, who DNF’d after crashing in the final miles.) Sam Laidlow shattered the four hour mark in his attempt to defend the world title.
Breaking down the riding choices of the top bike splits from this year’s race in Kona, a few trends emerge. First, Continental retains brand supremacy in tires — eleven of the top 15 bike splits were taken by riders using their products. There’s also a consensus emerging for 1X cranks in Kona. And yes, customized cockpits are now the norm, rather than the exception and everyone was on tubeless.
Here are, in order, your fastest riders from the 2024 men’s IRONMAN World Championships and the bikes they used to get there.
1.) Sam Laidlow – 3:57:22
Frame: Canyon Speedmax CFR
Wheels: HED Vanquish V84 (front), HED Jet 180 (rear)
Tires: Continental Aero 111 (front), Continental GP5000TT TR (rear);
Cockpit: Canyon Custom
Drivetrain: Shimano 1X
Crank: 165mm
Pedals: Favero Assioma
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Prologo Dimension Tri CPC
Front Hydration: Canyon, Dual Bottle XLAB Gorilla Cage
Rear Hydration: Canyon, XLAB Gorilla Cage
2.) Leon Chevalier – 4:01:38
Frame: Cervelo P5
Wheels: HED Vanquish V84 (front), HED Jet 180 (rear)
Tires: Continental GP 5000 TT TR
Cockpit: Drag2Zero
Drivetrain: Shimano 1X
Crank: 170mm
Pedals: Look Keo Blade
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: ISM PN 3.0
Front Hydration: Dual Bottle BTA
Rear Hydration: Single rear bottle
3.) Robert Kallin – 4:01:44
Frame: Orbea Ordu
Wheels: Ron Wheels Ultron (front), Ultron 105 (rear)
Tires: Continental GP 5000 TT TR,
Cockpit: Uniqo
Drivetrain: Shimano 2X
Crank: 172.5mm
Pedals: Favero Assioma
Rear Derailleur Hanger: unknown
Saddle: ISM PN 3.1
Front Hydration: 2 Bottle BTA, TriRig Cages
Rear Hydration: XLAB Gorilla Cage
4.) Magnus Ditlev – 4:02:52
Frame: Scott Plasma
Wheels: HED Vanquish V84 (front), HED Jet 180 (rear)
Tires: Schwalbe Pro One Aero
Cockpit: Custom
Drivetrain: Shimano 1X
Crank: 172.5mm
Pedals: Garmin
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Wove V8
Front Hydration: Single Bottle BTA
Rear Hydration: 3 bottle custom, XLAB Gorilla Cage
5.) Kristian Høgenhaug – 4:03:32
Frame: BMC Speedmachine 01 ONE
Wheels: DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT 80mm
Tires: Vittoria Corsa Speed 26mm
Cockpit: Profile Design and aeroGain.dk cups
Drivetrain: SRAM 1X
Crank: 170mm
Pedals: Shimano
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Selle Itallia Watt 3D Kit Carbonio Superflow
Front Hydration: Mono Dual Bottle BTA with XLAB Gorilla Cage
Rear Hydration: Large plastic box with XLAB Gorilla Cage
6.) Cameron Wurf – 4:03:59
Frame: Pinarello Bolide F TR
Wheels: Princeton Carbonworks Mach 7580 TS V2
Tires: Continental Aero 111 (front), Continental GP5000TT TR (rear),
Cockpit: Most
Drivetrain: Shimano 1X
Crank: 165mm
Pedals: Shimano
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Fizik Arione
Front Hydration: Single Bottle BTA, XLAB Gorilla Cage
Rear Hydration: XLAB Gorilla Cage
7.) Matthew Marquardt – 4:04:55
Frame: Trek Speed Concept
Wheels: Princeton Carbonworks Mach 7580 TS V3
Tires: Continental Aero 111 (front), Continental GP5000TT TR (rear)
Cockpit: Sync
Drivetrain: SRAM 1X
Crank: 175mm
Pedals: Shimano
Rear Derailleur Hanger: SRAM
Saddle: JCOB Type 5
Front Hydration: Dual Bottle BTA, XLAB Gorilla Cage
Rear Hydration: Single Rear Carrier
8.) Menno Koolhaas – 4:05:02
Frame: Scott Plasma
Wheels: Zipp 858 NSW
Tires: Continental Aero 111 (front), Continental GP5000TT TR (rear)
Cockpit: SpeedCo
Drivetrain: SRAM 1X
Crank: 170mm
Pedals: Look Keo Blade
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed
Saddle: Syncros Belcarra
Front Hydration: Dual Bottle BTA, XLAB and Syncros Cage
Rear Hydration: Single Rear Carrier
9.) Nick Thompson – 4:05:28
Frame: Cervelo
Wheels: Princeton Carbonworks Mach 7580 (front), HED Jet 180 (rear)
Tires: Pirelli P Zero Race TLR RS
Cockpit: Vision Superbar
Drivetrain: Shimano 1X
Crank: 165mm
Pedals: Favero Assioma
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Dash
Front Hydration: Single Bottle BTA, XLAB Gorilla Cage
Rear Hydration: XLAB Gorilla Cage
10.) Kristian Blummenfelt – 4:05:47
Frame: CADEX Tri
Wheels: CADEX Aero 4-Spoke
Tires: Continental GP 5000 TT TR, 25mm
Cockpit: Drag2Zero
Drivetrain: SRAM 2X
Crank: 165mm
Pedals: Shimano
Rear Derailleur Hanger: SRAM
Saddle: Wove V8
Front Hydration: Single Bottle BTA, XLAB Gorilla Cage
Rear Hydration: Mono Dual with XLAB Gorilla Cage
11.) Rudy Von Berg – 4:05:49
Frame: Factor Hanzo
Wheels: Cadex Aero 4-Spoke
Tires: Continental GP 5000 TT TR
Cockpit: Speedbar
Drivetrain: SRAM 1X
Crank: 175mm
Pedals: Look Keo Blade
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Wove V8
Front Hydration: Single Bottle BTA, XLAB Gorilla Cage
Rear Hydration: Mono Dual with XLAB Gorilla Cage
12.) Kacper Stepniak – 4:06:01
Frame: BMC Speedmachine 01
Wheels: Evolve TroikaMAX (front), Prototype (rear)
Tires: Continental GP 5000 TT TR
Cockpit: Drag2Zero
Drivetrain: SRAM 1X
Crank: unknown
Pedals: Look Keo Blade
Rear Derailleur Hanger: unknown
Saddle: Bontrager Hilo
Front Hydration:
Rear Hydration:
13.) Gregory Barnaby – 4:06:08
Frame: Trek Speed Concept
Wheels: Vision Metro SL 81
Tires: Vittoria Corsa Speed, 26mm
Cockpit: AeroCoach
Drivetrain: Shimano 1X
Crank: 165mm
Pedals: Favero Assioma
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Fizik Transiro Aeris
Front Hydration: Single Bottle BTA with Vision Cage
Rear Hydration: Single Vision cage
14.) Patrick Lange – 4:06:22
Frame: Canyon Speedmax CFR
Wheels: Swiss Side Hadron 800
Tires: Continental Aero 111 (front), Continental GP5000TT TR (rear); logos blacked out
Cockpit: Canyon Custom
Drivetrain: Shimano 1X
Crank: 165mm
Pedals: Wahoo/Speedplay
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Ceramicspeed OSPW Aero
Saddle: Selle Itallia Watt 3D Kit Carbonio Superflow
Front Hydration: Dual Bottles, XLAB Gorilla Cage and lower mounted aero bottle
Rear Hydration: Canyon, XLAB Gorilla Cage
15.) Antonio Benito López – 4:06:32
Frame: Orbea Ordu
Wheels: Progress A-7F Tri-Spoke
Tires: Continental GP 5000 TT TR
Cockpit: Uniqo
Drivetrain: Shimano 2X
Crank: 165mm
Pedals: Favero Assioma
Rear Derailleur Hanger: Unknown, carbon cage
Saddle: Selle Itallia Watt 3D Kit Carbonio Superflow
Front Hydration: XLAB Torpedo
Rear Hydration: Mono Dual Rear with Vision Cages
So you’re telling me I just need strong legs and not a $10,000+ bike?
Looks like the Ron Ultron 105mm (not 85mm) for Kallinn.
Why the redundancy of writing “tubeless” after GP5000 TT TR tires for some athletes? Makes it look like the others ran them with tubes, but I doubt that was the case.
You need a custom cockpit.
Unless you get a custom cockpit, you will not go fast.
But all joking aside, nice write up.
Not a single Male pro had a stock cockpit this year… It’s getting out of hand
yes, but we know pros have their positions so dialed in that they won’t ever change and their old cockpit won’t end up in the carbon landfill site.
On a number of athletes there is no mention of tubeless. Do you think those folks in fact run tubeless too, or are they using inner tubes?
Yes and of course they dont use any tape, glue, homemade 3d printing or rusty bolts for anything.
Sorry that was my bad on the sheet. Everyone was riding tubless. That has been corrected.
Didn’t Gustav get a friend to home 3d print bottle holders, that arrived a few days before the race ?
That unintentional littering penalty : that’s not a bottle falling out of said bottle holders, is it ?
Did you look at our feature of his bike? The front end was all over the place… Glue and all.
Good
And it passed the IM rules check ?
(we really need a pink button next to Italic, Bold…)
Thanks for a great write-up!
So whatever Ditlev got dinged for must have been particularly egregious.
A couple of additions/edits: