Taylor Knibb makes the transitional Trek to a TT Bike
Taylor Knibb has made the transitional Trek to a TT Bike by becoming the newest member of the Trek Factory Racing Triathlon team.
She now joins a team of triathletes who compete in the most challenging and diverse disciplines around the globe, from World Triathlon Olympic Distance to half and full Ironman distances, and a whole lot in between. Knibb will now join the Trek Team of Alex Yee, Tim O’Donnell, Holly Lawrence, Ben Kanute and Ellie Salthouse.
Taylor Knibb really caught people’s attention with some phenomenal performances in 2021, over long-distance triathlon courses on her Specialized Road Bike purchased for her by USA Triathlon. First on her Ironman 70.3 debut in Boulder (taping all her gels to her top tube) to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, in which she placed 3rd. Then again at the Collins Cup, where she beat Teresa Adam and the phenomenal Daniela Ryf posting the fastest women’s time in an ultra-elite Collins Cup field.
Make no mistake, Knibbs is no stranger to success, twice winning the Junior World Championships and being crowned U23 World Champion. She qualified for the Tokyo Olympics by winning WTCS Yokohama and was part of the silver medal winning Team USA in the Mixed Relay at Tokyo 2020.
But one her best races of the year has to be when Knibb crushed the field to win the World Triathlon Final in Edmonton. This stunning solo success was overshadowed by Flora Duffy (who took bronze) becoming the first triathlete in history to win Olympic gold and the World Championships in the same year.
Nonetheless, the burning question on everyone’s lips was why was the American not riding on a time-trial bike over the longer course of 70.3.
Well, things happen when you least expect them too. Her 70.3 debut in Boulder was not in her calendar until after the Olympics and then having won at Boulder out of the blue the Professional Triathlete Organisation contacted her about entering the Collins Cup. A race that was to be one week after her race in the World Triathlon Final in Edmonton.
For most professional triathletes racing this amount would represent the tipping point where you go from just the right number of races to overdoing it. But Taylor Knibb as the youngest woman ever to qualify for the US Olympic triathlon team was just having fun learning her trade.
Whilst I am sure the American had access to a TT bike, she probably hasn’t ever ridden a one and might not have had the time to develop the skills with such a short time scale between races. A large part of her sticking to a road bike with clip-on’s would no doubt have been made after weighing up the benefits – her riding ability and bike setup paired with her fitness and goals.
In hindsight, having rode and astounding 1:52:11 bike split on a road bike in the Collins Cup not many can question her decision at the time was the right one.
Upon signing for Trek Factory Racing Triathlon team Taylor Knibbs said “I’m looking forward to learning and really maximizing both my short course setup and long course setup, because I feel like that’s an area where there’s untapped potential.”
All we can add to that is if Taylor Knibb worried the rest of the long-distance field in 2021, they might need to be even more worried now she has Trek as her bike sponsor for 2022.
A word of encouragement for newbie’s looking to enter the world of long-distance triathlon but are on a budget. Don’t be afraid to start your journey on your trusted road bike before spending the big bucks on any marketing claimed aerodynamic TT rocket machine.
Knibbs is not a total phenomenon, Gustav Iden shocked the field when he won the 70.3 World Championship 2019 on a road bike! And last year, an Olympic Gold Medalist Nicola Spirig won the European middle-distance race in Austria on – you guessed it – a road bike.
It’s not so much about the specifics of the decision you make as it is about making a choice and believing in it.
