Pro cyclist Lewis Askey’s winning reflections on his first Ironman race

Professional cyclist Lewis Askey took advantage of a window in his racing calendar to sign-up for Ironman 70.3 Weymouth in September and showed his multisport potential by taking the tape with a comfortable victory.

It was only the third ever triathlon for the 23-year-old from Cannock, who competed in this year’s Giro d’Italia in May and starred in last year’s Vuelta a España with a flurry of top 10 finishes, as well as impressing in classics such as Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.

But he proved more than up for the challenge with a 29:39 split for the 1.2-mile swim, a 2:10:55 race-best 56-mile bike leg and a 1:21:41 marathon to run out a winner by more than 9min.

While Weymouth 70.3 might have been an age-group only race, a rolling one-loop bike course with 800m of ascent meant Askey’s overall time of 4:08:45 wouldn’t have looked out of place in many a professional field.

“I haven’t really had much triathlon experience,” he told 220. “I did Dorney Triathlon last year and Bala the year before in atrocious conditions [both over the standard distance], but they’re the only two I’ve ever done.”

Although he hadn’t turned 10 years old at the time, Askey did have a schooling in the basics because his father used to run kids’ triathlon camps during the summer holidays. 

“We’d do a week where we’d learn everything about triathlon: swim, bike and run training and everything about transitions – all that sort of stuff,” said. “I kind of got a base from that… although it was more like child care.”

While a fun departure from the more pressurised day job at French World UCI WorldTeam Groupama–FDJ, where his younger brother, Ben, is also riding in the development squad, Askey admitted to still being a little nervous before the start.

“I’ve never used the transition bags before and that was stressing me out,” he explained. “I was running through it in my head over and over again: ‘What do I need to put in each bag?!’ I was sure I’d not have something with me in transition.”

As for the race outcome, he also wasn’t sure what to expect, but the damage was done with a bike leg 10mins faster than the next best on course, eventual second place finisher Oliver Waymark.

“I have a lot of fitness from cycling, obviously, but I’m not trained in the other sports, so it was 2 ½ weeks of just getting my body used to running a little bit so [the race] wouldn’t damage me,” he explained.

Askey swam competitively until the age of 12, but says that other than splashing about in lakes and the sea, he’s been out of the water for the past decade. However, it was the run that was most concerning. 

“I knew I wouldn’t lose that much on the swim and knew I’d put time into people on the bike, but it was just how much I could hold on on the run. I set off at a 1:20 half-marathon pace I thought I could easily sustain, but my body is not used to running that long so I was struggling towards the end and just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The difference between running after a swim and a bike was a lot more than I was expecting.”

While the ability is clearly there, Askey says there isn’t any more triathlon on the immediate radar and confirmed he didn’t take his slot for next year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Spain. “It’s maybe something I’d like to do in the future, but I’m a cyclist at the end of the day. [Triathlon is] also a very tough sport and time consuming, getting to the pool and getting to the track. 

“If I had a good group of people doing the same thing as me I could see myself being motivated to do it in the future, but I’d want to do it properly and be up there with the best, and that requires proper hardwork and dedication and commitment.

“At the moment I’m still young in my cycling career, but I’m always looking at random stuff and side quests. I enjoy keeping it fresh to keep me motivated and I might hop into one or two if it fits into the season as my weird idea of fun.”

Arguably the most famous cyclist to have switched to long course triathlon and then looked to combine both pursuits is Ineos Grenadiers rider Cam Wurf, who will head to Hawaii next month trying to win the Ironman World Championship. Does Askey believe he could beat the Aussie in triathlon?

“Over 70.3 I think I’d take him, but over the Ironman I wouldn’t be confident,” he said. “I’m just not sure I’ve got that endurance. He’s got so many years of training and he’s got to be super strong over that distance. I haven’t got that base in me yet, especially in running.”

Askey believes that with training he could drop his 70.3 swim time to 25min, bike with the best and shave a good chunk of his half-marathon.

“I don’t know what the best guys do,” he said. “But I reckon from what I did with very little training I could get myself to a 1:13 run. It’s very hypothetical as i don’t know how my body would react. Whether I’d fly off a lot of training or how I’d react with injuries.”

Askey also says one other element that surprised him was the fantastic atmosphere at the event created by the spectators, volunteers, organisers and competitors. 

“I wasn’t expecting so many people out cheering and shouting,” he added. “That it went really smoothly I think helped me especially because being my first 70.3 I was obviously nervous about messing something stupid up. With it all being so well organised it was a cool environment to be in.”