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I understand that many posters (commenting on egregious fit errors) are either legit fitters or play one on TV, but to inject a small dose of results based reality into the thread: These guys are pros with access to the best fitting professionals and extensive wind tunnel time, in addition to hundreds of proving ground hours on the bike. Do you honestly think that you could "get them straight" with a little tweaking? Do you honestly believe that they willingly ride with suboptimal posture or alignment? Or is it likely that they have spent 10x the time any of us has trying to dial in the perfect speed/muscle conservation/aero fit? My guess, considering the fact that they alone have the most incentive to get it right, is that they are tuned like a piano and every millimeter of their fit is calculated, tested, tweaked, re-tested and confirmed. But then again, I'm just some anonymous knucklehead with the time to comment on forum boards. Oh wait, we all are. [Publisher's note: I fit a lot of these pros to their bikes. They are experts, you're right. But, not on bike fit. In fact, the great majority are naive to the bike in general, and to fit in particular. Of course, I'm generalizing. Still, this is, in my experience, the rule, and the exceptions are precisely that: exceptions to the (bubble bursting) rule.]

I have to echo an earlier comment. These top dogs really have unreal motors to turn in these times with so many obvious fit problems. At least three of them have their saddles too low by at least 2-3 cm, without even measuring. Man that would fry my quads so bad I could not even hobble a 5k, much less a marathon. With a good fit and some tweaking of other position problems, some of these guys could go sub-4 hour, I'll bet.

Thanks for this awesome photo gallery. If ever you wanted proof of how incredible these guys truly are, this is it. Sub optimal positions, bottles in back, whatever aerobars the sponsor gives them and still those times!

This does not mean that mere mortals should not try to get their tri program as good as possible. It just shows how much better the worlds best really are. They can produce these times on just about any bike a sponsor provides.

What kind of aero bars is Al Sultan using? [Editor's note: I believe they are Xentis bars]

Thanks for putting this up, very interesting! It amazes me that some guys can ride 180km in Speedo's... craaazzzzy!!! lol!