From twelve to twenty meters: professional athletes racing at Challenge Roth will now be required to keep a greater distance from one another on the bike to avoid a drafting penalty. The iconic German race had, unlike most Challenge Family events, stuck with a twelve-meter draft zone in recent years, but is now making the switch in hopes of guaranteeing a fairer race.
Challenge Roth previously maintained the twelve-meter rule largely because, according to the organization, there was insufficient space on the course. That limitation is also the reason why the new twenty-meter draft zone will apply only to professional athletes: for age-group competitors at Challenge Roth, the draft zone will remain twelve meters.
In recent years, the race has already taken other steps to improve fairness for professionals, such as reducing the number of (media) motorbikes allowed on the course. Last year, RaceRanger data – technology that shows which athletes are drafting and which are not – was also made public after the race.
Challenge Roth’s decision comes at a time when Ironman is also closely examining the possibility of expanding its draft zone from twelve to twenty meters. Ironman recently conducted a series of tests with professional athletes to better understand the advantages associated with different draft distances. Within the Challenge Family, however, the twenty-meter drafting rule has been in place for years at most of the races, and the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has also adopted a twenty-meter standard.
According to the organizers of Challenge Roth, increasingly faster bike split times are another key reason for the change: the higher the speed, the greater the drafting benefit becomes when athletes are riding only twelve meters apart.
