Race Hub · First-timer's guide
IRONMAN 70.3 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Sunday 11 July 2027. A lake swim in the drinking-quality water of Ulibarri-Gamboa, a one-loop 90km through the Álava countryside on good roads with gentle gradients, and a flat two-lap run through downtown Vitoria-Gasteiz. The whole day sits at 500 to 620m of altitude, and July here gets hot.
The Bike Course
Gentle roads at altitude. The heat is the course.
The official GPX shows 555m of climbing across 90.0km with no climb worth naming: long gentle drags, a 616m high point around km18, and the whole loop rolling between 509 and 616m of altitude, sharing a stretch with the Camino de Santiago. Two things matter more than the hills here: holding steady aero power, and respecting the heat, because recent race days have hit 32 to 35°C. We pace you against the elevation from the official IRONMAN bike GPX.
Pacing Calculator
How do your numbers stack up right now?
Built for first-timers. You don't need to know your FTP. A couple of honest inputs and we'll model your day against the real Vitoria-Gasteiz course.
Your Critical Swim Speed. We add for open water & wetsuit.
Don't know your CSS? Click HereUsed with your weight for a power-to-weight read. Not stored anywhere.
Average km/h on a recent long ride, of similar race distance and terrain, at race pace effort.
Your standalone half time, h:mm:ss.
July here is hot: recent race days have hit 32 to 35°C. Warm or Hot is the honest pick.
Power-to-weight body composition
Vitoria-Gasteiz has no real climbs, so weight matters less here than on a hilly course. The day is mostly won on aerodynamics, steady pacing, fuelling and heat management, with body composition a smaller lever at the margins.
These are just mathematical outcomes from your height and weight, not a judgement on your body, and the maths can't tell how much of your weight is muscle. Any change should come from better fuelling and training, never restriction or dropping weight for its own sake, under-eating to chase "race weight" costs you more fitness than it buys. Whether it applies to you at all, and what a healthy target looks like, is exactly what our coaching team, with Adam on nutrition, work out with you 1:1.
Don't go it alone.
These headline numbers are a great start, but race day is bigger than a set of splits. What gets you to the line ready, and across it in the best possible shape, is a coaching team in your corner: mapping and running the whole journey with you across training, strength and conditioning, nutrition and race-day strategy, built around your life and adjusted as you go. That is exactly what Team TC does.
Apply for 1:1 coaching with TomBefore race day