How Much Is “Legal Drafting” Worth? Inside IRONMAN’s 12,16, and 20m Study

Alright—today’s episode is about the rule everyone argues about, even when the racing is clean: drafting. Due to the community’s consist outrage IRONMAN has started real-world testing to compare the legal benefit of riding at 12 meters versus, 16 and 20 meters, and they’re doing it with actual pros, at actual race speeds, on the road. The goal is simple to say and hard to do: measure what kind of power savings and CdA (the coefficient of drag (Cd)multiplied by the frontal area (A), representing total aerodynamic drag exist across different gaps, and figure out what that means for fairness, safety, and how races actually unfold when packs form, the wind shifts, and the road narrows. And to get into it, we’re joined by Jimmy Riccitello—head referee, rules lead, and IRONMAN’s Director of Rules and Special Projects. Jimmy breaks down how they’re using Race Ranger to control spacing, and how Marc Graveline is creating the testing. We revealed a real learning curve, and why their second round was redesigned to get cleaner data—pros with Race Ranger experience, a consistent “rabbit” up front, rotating order behind, and multiple runs at each distance. From there, we get into the real fight: why some pros want 20 meters, why others think it creates new problems, and why IRONMAN can’t treat this like a single-variable decision—because once pros and age-groupers mix on multi-loop courses, “simple” gets messy fast.

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