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Abu Dhabi triathlon preview - Men

Build it and they will come was the adage but in the case of the Abu Dhabi triathlon this weekend it may have read pay them and they will come. Triathletes for the most part, are under paid. They put in hours upon hours of work for returns that would have only the smallest of world sports envious. And let's be honest here, triathlon is a niche sport. All professionals in world sports play and train hard there is no doubt but a triathletes lot is pretty slim.

So with only a few days to go until one of the biggest pay days in the sport all eyes are on Abu Dhabi. The organisers have aimed this race squarely on the swim/bikers. With the distances being a 3k swim/200km bike/20 km run. Most betting people would assume that a swim biker will tear the course apart and then just hang on for the 20km run. A simple task for those who love being a 2 wheeled express. So it is surprising that the best known swim biker in the Ironman world right now in Chris Lieto did not make the trip.

Following Lieto in the media truck last season in Kona was an experience. After a few stops and with the truck pushing any traffic cops patience we finally caught Lieto zooming down the Queen K. You would have thought this race was designed with him in mind. But he is not the only super star missing. McCormack, Alexander, Stadler and Vanhoenacker are all absent. The timing of this event might have something to do with this. But money talks and a set of pros worthy of any championships race will make the trip.

So the form here for both the men must be determined by the strong bikers. They are going to unload on this course. The big bikers to watch out for are Bjorn Andersson, Jordan Rapp and Phil Graves. Graves, talked of records pre Kona last year but fell well short of that mark imploding in the heat. But he would have learned much about pacing and you can't lose class. Anderson is a regular visitor to the sub 4.25 Ironman ride club. He rides like a man pocessed and will not want to be on the end of someone elses attack.  He will set the fastest bike ride of the day. Rapp is a man on the rise. He rode the field of his wheel in Arizona last season with a sub 4.30 effort.

The other darkhorse in this bike fest is Ain-Alar Juhanson. He is a monster and will be pile driving the pedals. Juhanson is a hard man and will be set to carve a reputation on race day.

But after throwing the field around in the firstoffthebike.com office we didn't feel they would win. For us Rasmus Henning, Faris Al Sultan and Dirk Bockel are the big three to watch. Henning is relatively new to the format but knows how to win the big money events whereas Al Sultan is racing in front of his sponsors for Team Abu Dhabi. A good showing here might have bonus written into his contract.

Throw in Reynard Tissink, Bert Jammaer, Eneko Llanos Joe Gambles and Ronnis Schildnecht and this will be one very fast race.

Our fearless predictions for the men are;

1. Rasmus Henning
2. Dirk Bockel
3. Faris Al Sultan