I guess it might be the big question for you, though, is like, do you hold back a little bit this time after 2024? And how does that affect the field behind you?

Yeah I mean after 2024 obviously I got like so many people just saying that like I just overpaced the bike and I genuinely believe that I didn't you know as I said I was in I was in really really good shape and I just yeah I just messed up the nutrition or whatever my body wasn't 100% that day but I wake up every day and literally think about performing on one day of the year, and that's this weekend.

So why would I suddenly on that day go way too hard? It doesn't really make sense.

So yeah, I really just want to get from A to B as fast as possible.

Everyone's talking about this guy helping that guy and that guy helping this guy.

And yeah, I'm confident that if I can... yeah, have a good solid race and not like even in Roth.

I mean, I had a great race, but I think then three weeks of like lack of volume before showed in the last kind of seven to eight K where I literally like came to a walk.

And can you just give a little bit of advice to those watching, like how to ride a road fast as simply as you can? Because I think people just hold even power far too often.

Do you hold back a little bit this time, uh, after 2024, and how does that affect the field behind you?

Yeah, I mean, um, after 2024, obviously I got, like, so many people just saying that, like, I just overpaced the bike and, and I genuinely believe that I, I didn't, you know? As I said, I was in, I was in really, really good shape, and I just...

Yeah, I just messed up the nutrition or whatever.

My body wasn't 100% that day, but I wake up every day and literally think about performing on one day of the year, and that's, that's this weekend.

So, like, why would I suddenly on that day go, like, way too hard, you know? It doesn't really make sense.

Um, so yeah, I, I, I really, like, I really just wanna get from A to B as fast as possible.

Like, like everyone's talking about this guy helping that guy, and that guy helping this guy, and, um, yeah, I...

Very cool.

Yeah

... uh, to the best of my ability to play the game.

And, um, and I also gen- genuinely believe that triathlon is one of the best sports to be a professional at, um, simply because, um, it's rare to kind of be your own boss in, in, in a professional sport where you can earn decent living.

And, um, I, I wouldn't want to not do it on my, my terms.

You know, if you're a football player or if you're a Formula One driver or a cyclist, um, kind of the better you get, the more support you get and everything's controlled for you.

But equally, you're still just an em- an employee, you know? Like you're, you get told to go here and here and here.

And likely, the more you get paid, the more things you have to do, you know? And, um, for us in triathlon, we get to do it on our terms, uh, which is, which is amazing.

Like, how would you describe your goal in terms of where do you go from here?

Faut pas avoir peur de mouliner ? C'est pas un problème de, de mouliner ?

Je sais pas.

Moi, quand je me souviens des, des stages IATE, les stages équipe de France jeune, en gros, on va dire, euh, et euh, il y avait un, un type, il me disait toujours euh, qu'il fallait que je mouline quoi, il fallait que je mouline, je mouline.

Et moi, je lui disais : « Mais attends le chrono », tu vois.

En fin de stage, on faisait un chrono et j'étais de loin le plus rapide.

Donc je sais pas, c'est-- en fait, c'est-- mais moi, c'est parce que je veux pédaler en force et c'était comme ça.

Et euh, c'est sûr qu'en triathlon, maintenant, au fur et à mesure des années, j'essaie, moi, de bosser aussi, de, de, de d'essayer de garder de la fréquence parce que, comme Charlotte l'a dit, c'est, c'est un avantage après pour euh, pour le, pour le marathon.

Sam, euh, ça te tente pas de passer cent pour cent au vélo ? Tu t'es jamais demandé, euh- Si t'allais pas lâcher Ironman et te mettre sur le Tour de France.

That had to surprise you a little bit off of that 10 and a half hours a week of training.

Yeah, I mean the 2.37 is a good number but it's also short the course in Roth if we're being honest so it's not that much faster than what I've run but equally it's by far my best run off that little training you know and It was nice to not be chased for once.

I'd never been in that position in an Ironman.

There's a big energy in inertia and momentum.

the guy in front of you slowing down and you're going faster um you can really feel that energy and that momentum and uh you kind of feed off that and i think that's what people like patrick and christian do do really well um and um because i actually saw a stat the other day about me and patrick in nice last time him only running eight seconds faster over the first 5k Which I was like, how is that possible? He ran the marathon 10 minutes faster than me.

And yeah, I still don't know if that's true.

So you have to look it up.

we'll have to look at this we'll have to get the stat man uh the other sam on it um you know last year in kona you seemed uh almost bewildered to a certain extent maybe it would be like the vibe i got of you afterwards like it didn't seem like you knew what happened right and obviously epstein barr and like health issues earlier this year maybe pointed to some a little bit are you i know you want to win this race on sunday But in the end, if you look back at the finish line and you don't win, but you put together a consistent race from start to finish, will that be acceptable to you considering where you were last year? Or is it still like, no, man, I'm here to win?