What the Pro Field Rode at 2026 IRONMAN 70.3 Worlds

While IRONMAN always helps us with access for bike counts, we don’t get to spend a lot of time in the pro compound. And that held true at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice this past week. So while we were unable to get all of the details we would like, we were able to look at a few things that we think are important trends to track. For 70.3 Worlds, I felt like it was most important to track five things professionals were racing on:

• Bike Brand
• Drivetrain
• Tires
• Wheels
• Cockpit

Those are all important metrics, and they are also manageable to capture in the hour we’re given to get all the information. I would have liked to also looked at saddle choice if we had more time, but saddles can be very hard to read when you can’t touch the bike at all.

Women’s Field Counts

Bike Brand

Drivetrain

Tires

Wheels

Cockpit

Men’s Field Counts

Bike Brand

Drivetrain

Tires

Wheels

Cockpit

Combined Count Top Results

Bike Brand

1. Cervelo — 17
2. Canyon — 15
3. (tie) Trek, Factor— 9

Drivetrain

1. SRAM — 54
2. Shimano — 50

Now, let’s frame this out a little bit. I did see a couple of Rotor cranks and 2 SRM cranks out there. But there was nothing from Campagnolo, despite being in Europe. And I didn’t see anything by FSA. But those are just parts of a drivetrain, and it’s really the derailleurs that drive most of things. And it’s clear that SRAM has done a good job with getting into the pro field. That, I would guess, would have to do a lot with SRAM’s ease of operations and getting product into athlete hands, as this wasn’t a course I would have otherwise expected to see so many 1X drivetrains at.

Tires

1. Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR — 63
2. Pirelli P ZERO Race TLR SL-R — 17
3. Continental Aero 111 — 8

Of note: neither of the fastest rides in the race used the most popular tire. While the fastest women’s bike split by Taylor Knibb was on the Continental Grand Prix 5000S TR (her tire of choice for a while now), on the men’s side it was Gustav Iden posting the fastest ride in on the new Pirelli P ZERO Race.

Wheels

1. DT Swiss — 18
2. (tie) Cadex, Princeton Carbon — 9
3. (tie) Zipp, Black Inc. — 8

Cockpit

1. FastTT — 21
2. Drag 2 Zero — 9
3. Profile Design — 7

Surprises From the Count

The thing that surprised me the most was how many pros have quickly adopted the Pirelli P ZERO Race TLR SL-R as their tire choice. Seventeen athletes chose this tire over either sponsored tires or the current king of rubber: the Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR. When asking Casper Stornes about the tire he said, “It’s got the same rolling resistance as the Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT TR but its way more comfortable so we are all using it.”

It’s always hard to tell who is choosing products due to sponsorship or their own personal choice. For example, we always seem to have a lot of pros riding on Cervelo frames. But tires are a place where athletes typically are making their own choices, as 98% of the time, they are buying their own. For that many athletes to switch to the same new tire by choice and away from Continental, it says something.

Also…we got some pushups in.

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