Why Are Triathletes Renting Bikes for World Championships?

December 14, 2023

The bond between triathlete and bicycle is deep and complex, just ask the thousands of triathletes with pet names for their bicycles. So, this begs the question, why would someone rent a bicycle to race an Ironman—especially when that might have been the reason for the bike purchase in the first place? Don’t we buy bikes to race them? Maybe not anymore.

At the 2023 Men’s Ironman World Championships in Nice, France, the Triathlete’s bike count noted 45 bikes that were clearly rentals from France Bike Rentals. However, the number of rentals at the Ironman World Championship may have been much higher. The bikes counted as rentals were all from the same French brand, LaPierre, and included both tri-specific bikes and road bikes. Triathlete