Pro Cyclists Turned Triathletes: The Current, The Retired, The Other Way Arounders

Cameron Wurf on the bike at the IRONMAN World Championship Nice. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Mathieu van der Poel has hinted at his intentions to do a triathlon–and an IRONMAN at that. In case you’ve been living under a triathlon rock, Van der Poel is a cycling mega-star: he’s a multiple world champion (seven-time cyclocross, road in 2023, gravel 2024), has numerous Classics wins including Paris-Roubaix, Flanders, San Remo, Strade Bianche, and has won stages of the Giro and Tour de France. and much more. If the rumours weren’t enough, spotted on cycling legend Greg van Avermaet’s Strava was an open water swim that noted: “Getting Mathieu van der Poel into Triatlon [sic].” Van Avermaet, who won gold at the 2016 Olympics in the men’s road race as well as grand tour stages throughout his career, took up triathlon after his retirement and recently won his age group at the 70.3 world championship in Marbella with a time of 4:15. 

Whether or not Van der Poel does a triathlon or not, he certainly won’t be the first, or last, in the growing trend of pro cyclists turning to triathlon. Of the long list of cyclists coming into multisport, some have managed to race professionally in both – even at the same time. There are plenty of converts, one way or the other, but here are a few stand outs. 

Currently Active Pros 

Of course, the most notable these days is Australian Cam Wurf who really showed everyone how “legit” triathletes were when he was taking big pulls on the front of the bunch for Ineos at Paris-Roubaix and then went out to run a half marathon after. He spent a few seasons famously balancing both cycling and triathlon at the pro level, but for the 2025 season he was solely focused on triathlon. He finsihed seventh at Kona in 2024, 21st in Nice this year with standout bike splits at the IRONMAN European Championship Frankfurt and at Ironman Texas, and took second at IRONMAN Chattanooga. 

Jon Breivold on the bike at the IRONMAN World Championship Nice. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Jon Breivold might not consider his cycling career as totally professional since he was studying through most of it and never made it to the World Tour (as he expressed in an interview with us earlier this year), but he did race at the continental level, and that’s pro in anyone’s books. The Norwegian still works part-time but, with a big win at Alpe D’Huez and a 20th place in Nice, 2025 was his breakout season and, as he told Slowtwitch, his cycling has returned to the level it was when he a pursuing road cycling. 

German Reuben Zepunkte, who raced at the world tour level with Cannondale-Drapac from 2015-2016, is another notable mention, as well as recent convert James “Jimmy” Whelan, who raced seven years on the continental and world tour level for EF Education in its various forms. Whelan has only raced one triathlon at the professional level, 70.3 Geelong, where he finished 19th. His cycling is obviously competitive, but his swim is, well, perhaps unsurprisingly, in need of a lot of work. What is actually exciting is his run. Whelan ran a 1:11 in Geelong and, recently, at the Valencia half marathon, he finished only eight seconds behind Alex Yee, clocking a 1:01:38.  

Previous Double Pros 

American Lyn Lemaire became the first woman ever do an Ironman in 1979, but she was also an accomplished cyclist. She raced on the track and the road at the national level, claiming the national title in the 40 km time trial in 1976. 

Just before one of sports most unforgettable falls from grace, Lance Armstrong was racing on the pro long course circuit. His roots were in triathlon so it was no surprise when he retired from his storied cycling career in 2011 that he ventured back to multisport. After dabbling in XTERRA, Armstrong started racing on the road with the intentions to qualify and compete in Kona. After five 70.3s in 2012, where he was on the podium in four including wins at in Florida and Hawaii, his extensive doping activities finally caught up with him. After extensive investigations, USADA announced a lifetime ban in August 2012, including the “ineligibility and disqualification of all competitive results from August 1, 1998 through the present.” Although Dave Scott came out and said Armstrong should be allowed to compete in 2014 to give triathlon a “boost,” Armstrong’s ban remains intact and enforced. 

One of Armstrong’s former teammates, fellow American Steve Larsen, had a few successful pro seaons in triathlon (2001, 2003, 2008) after retiring from the WorldTour, including a win at Ironman Lake Placid in 2001. A year after his one and only Kona appearance, where he finished 48th, he died from sudden cardiac arrest at age 39. Another teammate of Armstrong’s, Chann McRae, jumped into triathlon after a successful nine-year pro cycling career that included a national road cycling title. The American did five IRONMAN races between 2004 and 2006, with his one and only showing at Kona yielding a 44th place. 

Other notable cyclist from the “Lance Era” include Rolf Aldag (Germany), 2012 Olympic gold medallist Alexandre Vinikourov (Kazakhstan) and Kai Hundertmarck (Germany), the latter of whom had a dispute with the IRONMAN Germany organizer when he changed the mandatory anti-doping affidavit demanded of all professional starters. Hundertmarck, who raced only full distance between 2005 and 2009, did not start the race, but instead raced Ironman Austria a week later where he finished 4th.

Swiss athlete Karin Thurig (pictured above) was a professional road cyclist from 2005 to 2009, but included one to two pro long course events per season, too. She was a three-time IRONMAN Switzerland champion, and her best result in Kona was sixth (which she did in 2003, 2010, 2011). In 2006 she won IRONMAN Lanzarote, and four months later she was second at the UCI world championship in the individual time trial. 

Emma Pooley, Beijing silver medalist and world champion individual time trialist, had an incredibly successful road cycling career between 2006 and 2016. She was a British national road champion, three-time national time trail champion and multiple Olympian, with international tour stage wins and GC victories to her name. Starting in 2013, she dabbled in long course triathlon, earning five podiums and one victory in middle distance events while she was still racing in the UCI women’s world tour. After her retirement from cycling, Pooley only raced one more triathlon professionally, Alpe D’Huez, where she finished second.  

American Andrew Talansky, who spent most of his 10 year pro cycling career with Garmin, with multiple campaigns at the Tour de France and Vuelta España and a win at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2014, immediately jumped into pro long course triathlon after his cycling retirement. Talansky raced between 2018 and 2019 in both middle- and full-distance. 

The Other Way Around 

In the mid 2000s, Austrlian Nikki Butterfield and her husband, Bermudan Tyler Butterfield, also did it the other way around, both pursing triathlon with stints racing on the road professionally. Tyler raced in 2007 with Team Slipstream, while Nikki did three concurrent seasons for various UCI teams between 2006 and 2008. American Jennifer Luebke did the same, finishing three of the five pro middle- and full-distance triathlons she started between 2013 and 2015. She switched to cycling in 2017 and raced for three years as a domestic pro. 

Spaniard Anna Noguera raced on the pro half-IRONMAN circuit from 2019 before changing to cycling in 2024, racing at the national level. However, she recently returned to triathlon and won the 2025 Spanish middle-distance triathlon championship. 

Taylor Knibb at T100 London. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Taylor Knibb represented the United States at the Paris Olympics in triathlon as well as the individual time trial. Paula Findlay is the current and three-time Canadian national time trial champion and, in the last two years she has won, went on to represent Canada at the UCI individual time trial world championship. And, as we noted in our race preview, Dr. Merle Brunnee, who just finished 29th in Kona, was selected to represent Germany in the UCI Esports World Championships last week in Abu Dhabi. Another Kona finisher who competed at the Esports worlds is American Elyse Gallegos, who is a member of the Slowtwitch/ Goodlife Racing Team. Gallegos is a six-time IRONMAN World Championship qualifier who finished 12th in the women’s 35 to 39 age group on the Big Island.

Elyse Gallegos competing at the UCI Esports World Championships in Abu Dhabi. Photo: @SWpix.com

Finally, Dutch short course and T100 wildcard triathlete Maya Kingma signed with women’s road cycling WorldTour team EF Education-Oatly mid 2025, seemingly balancing WTCS racing and cycling. (British fan-favourite Gerorgia Taylor-Brown participated in an early pre season EF Education-Oatly training camp and, as she reported on her social media, enjoyed the experience, but has yet to make her pro cycling debut.)

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