Bike Check From Nice 2026: The Rides of Bridget Theunissen, Kirsten Kasper, and Caroline Kaplan
(With files from Ben Snyder-McGrath)
This weekend’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship promises to be an exciting one, not only because of the epic course, but also thanks to the strong fields in both the men’s and women’s pro races. We caught up with a few of the pro women today to check out their rides for Saturday’s challenging ride.
Bridget Theunissen – Quintana Roo V-PRi
South Africa’s Bridget Theunissen is used to racing short-course triathlons like WTCS races and World Cup events, but she says she “really likes” middle-distance racing. That makes sense considering the fact that she has won a pair of Challenge races in Cesenatico, Italy, and Turku, Finland, this year. Toss in a fourth-place finish at IRONMAN 70.3 Krakow in Poland and she is having a stellar season.
Theunissen is in Nice with her Quintana Roo V-PRi and ready to toe the line of the second IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship of her young career. After a 30th-place finish in Marbella, Spain, at last year’s championship, she may have her eyes on a higher result this weekend in France, but she says that, at the end of the day, all she truly cares about is executing her race as planned and reaching the finish line knowing she did her best. Her V-PRi is going to play a big role in delivering her best performance on Saturday. Here’s what she’s going to be riding:
Kirsten Kasper – Ventum Tempus
American Kirsten Kasper has had great success in her time as a short-course athlete. She is an Olympian, a mixed relay world champion and she has multiple top-five results at WTCS events. Middle-distance racing, however, is a new challenge for her — and one she is tackling eagerly. She has only raced three 70.3s in her career, but two of them were victories (the third was a seventh-place finish at the always-stacked 70.3 Oceanside).
She is in Nice, France, to race her fourth middle-distance triathlon — this time at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. She and her Ventum Tempus travelled to Nice right from China after her 14th-place finish at WTCS Weihai (she may be racing 70.3s, but Kasper still has her eyes on the L.A. 2028 Olympics) in August. Since arriving in France, she has been riding the hilly course and practicing the blistering descent in preparation for Saturday’s race. Here’s a closer look at the bike setup that she hopes will lift her to another big result in what is currently a fun side project of middle-distance racing.
Kirsten Kasper — Ventum Tempus
| Drivetrain | |
| Drivetrain / Groupset | SRAM |
| 1x / 2x | 2x |
| Crank Length | 160 |
| Front Chain Ring | 54/41 |
| Rear Cassette | 10-36 |
| Power Meter | SRAM Quarq crank |
| Wheels & Tires | |
| Wheel Brand | Princeton CarbonWorks |
| Wheel Model | Mach 7580, Blur 633 |
| Front Wheel Depth | Other |
| Rear Wheel Depth | Disc |
| Tires | GP 5000 (28) |
| Tire Pressure (Front) | 60 |
| Tire Pressure (Rear) | 60 |
| Cockpit & Setup | |
| Base Bar | Profile design |
| Aero Bars | Profile Design |
| Front BTA | 2 bottles |
| Rear BTS | Bottle |
| Computer | Wahoo element |
| Contact Points | |
| Saddle | gebioMized stride |
| Pedals | Shimano |
Caroline Kaplan – Quintana Roo V-PRi
American pro Caroline Kaplan hails from Franklin, Tenn., just south of Nashville. Although she says there are not many steep or long hills in the region, she says she feels strong and ready for the mountainous ride in Nice, France, this weekend at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. (She says she has spent many rides in and around Franklin relentlessly going up and down the biggest hills in the area to prepare for Nice.)
Kaplan’s race in Nice will be her second time competing as a pro at the 70.3 World Championship — she finished 40th among the pro women in 2025 in Marbella, Spain. Carrying her up the mountain on Saturday will be her trusty Quintana Roo V-PRi. In the video above, she takes Slowtwitch’s Eric Wynn through everything that makes her ride perfect for her.
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