David Dellow had an age group bib number after being a late entry into Challenge Roth, and flew thus somewhat under the radar during the race. It was also confusing for onlookers and some announcers referred to him as 'the guy in a black suit with red hair.' That however did not stop him from grabbing a podium spot and a nice pay check, only a few days after an unhappy early ending to his Ironman European Championships day in Frankfurt.

Slowtwitch: Hey David, it is good chatting with you.

David Dellow: Thanks for having me.

ST: You were actually not meant to be in Roth, but you ended up there and had a good race.

David: The original plan was to come to Europe and race Ironman Frankfurt and then 2 weeks later race Ironman UK to hopefully qualify for Kona through those 2 races, and then I would still have Ironman Japan as another possibility. But when I did not get any points with a DNF at Frankfurt, Kona was sort of out for the year unfortunately. I was then sitting around for breakfast on Monday morning after Frankfurt and someone suggested doing Roth – and that is how I got there.

ST: Had you considered doing Challenge Roth before?

David: No. Obviously I had heard about it when I was on Team TBB and James Cunnama won this race and was raving about it, and Caroline [Steffen] had always talked about how good this race is, but it just did not fit in with my program of qualifying for Kona. But yes, strange things happen sometimes and it worked out well.

ST: A flat tire ended your race in Frankfurt I believe. Did the repair not work or did you not have anything?

David: It did not have anything. [laughs] But the speed that group was going, even if I had changed it in 2 minutes it would have been pretty much race over. So when I punctured, that was it.

ST: Was that your race plan?

David: I would not really say that I am the strongest cyclist in the world, so I try to stay in the front group. I don’t really like my chances of riding down a [Sebastian] Kienle, [Frederik] Van Lierde and [Eneko] Llanos etc., so when I punctured that was it. I had no spare tire etc. and that was the race.

ST: Is that how you approach races in general with no spare tire? And did you have a spare tire in Roth?

David: I did. [laughs]

ST: Was that a lesson learned?

David: It was a lesson. It is pretty stupid to travel halfway across the world to do a triathlon and then not have a spare.

ST: Talking about bikes. We noticed you on a Ridley in Roth. Is that a new sponsor?

David: I started riding Ridley bikes this year and they brought out a new design for the Ridley Dean Fast, and that is a fantastic bike - love it. Roth was my first race on it and everything went well.

ST: You did not have it in Frankfurt?

David: I did have it in Frankfurt but I am counting this [Challenge Roth] as my first race of 2015.

ST: After you got the idea on Monday, when did you actually arrive in Roth?

David: I arrived in Roth on Tuesday I think. Since it was a last minute decision, Caroline [Steffen] called her homestay she had been staying with forever, and they had room for us. We drove over here from Frankfurt and it is only a 2-hour drive, and yeah it worked out perfectly. That is one of the good things about Europe - everything is so close. When you come from Australia, the equivalent there would have meant a 3-day drive to get somewhere else, or something like it. But in Europe in 2-hours you get to many races.

ST: It was very hot in Germany and that almost meant no wetsuits in the race. How would you have felt about that?

David: I would generally prefer a non-wetsuit swim. I think leading into the race the water temperature was around 26-degrees Celsius, but we had a few cool nights and some rain and that dropped it just below the wetsuit threshold. And apparently they flushed out the canal before the race and that churns up the water and makes it cooler too. But when it is just under that threshold a lot of people got a bit hot during the swim.

ST: Did you swim in a full or sleeveless suit?

David: I swam in a full.

ST: Is there ever a reason to swim in a sleeveless suit?

David: Haha, I don’t know where to start with, but I only brought one wetsuit, and it had sleeves, and that is what I wore.

ST: With all that fitness from Frankfurt, did you feel good going into the race in Roth?

David: I was really unsure because the last Ironman I did was Ironman Melbourne 2014, and that is 16 months between races. You can do all the training in the world but you just never really know how you are going. So I was a bit unsure and nervous, and an Ironman is always a daunting. It is a bit like stepping off a cliff, but I got in the rhythm and it all came good.

ST: What position were you in after the swim?

David: This is a bit of a funny story. Because I was such a late entry I ended up getting a spot in the age group transition. So I had a good swim but my bike was over with the age groupers and I ended up losing a bit of time because my bike was in a funny spot. So getting out on the bike there was a little bit of a gap to the group of about 5 who were down the road. But after about 10k we caught them and then I sat in that front group during the first lap. After the first lap Starky, Nils [Frommhold] and maybe one other guy slipped away and then for the rest of the ride I rode with Timo Bracht, Per Bittner and Johann Ackermann.

ST: You said we earlier when you talked about catching that group. Who was with you?

David: Horst Reichel, and he was very strong and closed that gap to that front group.

ST: What went through your mind that first time up the Solarer Berg?

David: What the hell is going on here? It was noisy and people were whacking me on the back with those green blow-up things. Yeah, it was pretty impressive. You come around the corner and look up the road and there is just no gap there. Everyone is standing on the road and the very last minute it parts. I said this at the press conference but it is just a different culture of spectating in Europe. Not that many people live in Roth, so all these people got into their cars and drove however long. Then parked, walked up the hill and cheered people coming up the hill. In Australia that just doesn’t happen. So if you are mostly racing in Australia it is impressive coming here and seeing thousands of spectators on the course.

ST: Do you think it helps you having that many folks on the side of the road encouraging you?

David: It helps and there is no doubt about it. And if someone says they don’t notice it they are lying. If there are a couple hundred people standing at an aid station screaming at you that just gives you a boost and you forget how sore your calves and quads are, even if just for a few seconds.

ST: Talking about differences coming from Australia, are there food items at aid stations in Europe you would never see at home?

David: It is pretty standard in Germany, but in France it gets weird at time. They hand out cake and dried prunes and apples and other weird stuff, but mostly it is pretty standard.

ST: I noticed they had cake during the run where athletes came across the dam in Roth.

David: Oh no, I wish you had told me, at 30k I could have pretty much used a piece of cake because I was dead.

ST: What position did you come off the bike?

David: It was Starky and Nils up front and then I am pretty sure it was Timo and I, but Timo had a bit of a lead coming out of T2. At about 15k I could Starky and then I caught Timo at about 30 kilometers.

ST: That was a slow catch of Timo Bracht, because you were very close after transition.

David: I think he had about 30 seconds at the beginning of the run and I caught him at 30k, so I gained about 1 second per kilometer on him. It was a very slow catch, and then I got my nose in front of him for about 13 seconds or so, and he just took off again. He left me in his wake and was very strong those last 10k.

ST: Did you see him looking back?

David: No, but he was surrounded by people and he surely knew where I was. He did not say much when I caught him and he did not say much either. But he took off again and he was just too strong.

ST: I think during the press conference Timo Bracht said he did not know who you were.

David: Well, I had a weird race number because of the late entry. So my name likely did not come up on the race ticker either and he had no information. So it was a bit of a weird situation.

ST: So how did announcers at aid stations announce you?

David: [laughs] Here comes guy in black suit with red hair.

ST: Did any of the other guys say anything to you when they noticed the odd 4 digit bib number?

David: No, no one really talks out there, but surely someone thought what is this age grouper doing up here. But no one said anything to me.

ST: So what is next?

David: Trying to do some early season races in Australia. I have been injured so long that I really stuffed up my Kona selection, so I want to get that Kona spot out of the way early, more than likely Busselton and Melbourne and maybe one or two 70.3 events, and I for sure want to come back to Roth, now that I know the course.

ST: Would you recommend to other pros to come to Roth?

David: Psssst, no, this race sucks, don’t go there - go to Frankfurt. Just kidding, Roth is a great race and I will definitely coming back here, that is for sure.

ST: Anything else we should know?

David: That is it, that is all I got.

You can follow David Dellow on Twitter via @david_dellow