Men's bike leg in the Ironman World Championships

Philip Graves, the 20-year-old Englishman was the big star of the early stages of the bike today in Kona. Graves set himself up to lead the bike with a fourth-place swim time and dropped Andy Potts in the first miles by flying off the front. The 20-year-old Ironman UK winner told his friends before the race "I'm gonna go out there and lead this thing as long as I can," according to the Ironman live coverage. Graves got out there and lived the dream, leading the Ironman World Championships for quite some time in his second-ever Ironman. Word on the street was that he wanted to set a bike course record.
Retired Ironman veterans Paul Huddle, Greg Welch, and Paula Newby-Fraser sounded like old curmudgeons politely suggesting that he, 'slow down, son.' Close-ups showed sweat dripping off Graves' face as he flew down the highway through 95º heat.
2005 Ironman World Champion Faris Al-Sultan of Germany bore down on the young firecracker, and ultimately passed him at mile 50. By mile 59, Graves had slipped from the top ten, replaced by Al-Sultan, American Chris Lieto, and newcomers in the front group, Marino Vanhoenacker, and Maik Twelsiek. The men traded "pulls" until mile 70 when Chris Lieto made his move. Lieto had hinted before the race that he would bide his time on the bike course before making his move. At mile 70, Lieto dropped the hammer, building a 2.5-minute gap in the next 10 miles; a gap that build to about 12 minutes over the chase group by T2. Lieto, who has spent a month at altitude in Mammoth, CA training with US national marathon runners like Ryan Hall, is confident in his run in a way he never has been before.
Behind the leaders, the chase pack including defending champion Craig Alexander began riding on red alert. The group, which Greg Welch said looked like "Olympic-like racing" (meaning that it was a very tight pack), included 70.3 World Champion Terenzo Bozzone, ITU superstar Rasmus Henning, Eneko Llanos, and Vanhoenacke'rs Commerzbank teammate, Mathias Hecht. As the wind picked up in the second half of the bike, though, the gap between the leaders and the chase pack stretched.
Behind them, rival former champions Normann Stadler and Chris McCormack, who had been all but forgotten until this point began to reel in Alexander's group together and worked their way into contention. They both appeared to be suffering from muscle cramps; the same problem that robbed Stadler of the lead last year. It will be an exciting marathon as Craig Alexander and company try to run down Lieto. Surly Lieto will give them a run for their money as he did to Alexander in Boise this year, where he and Alexander sprinted so hard that they collapsed at the finish line. And remember, that was before he started training with Ryan Hall...
Source examiner.com