Ironman and Olympic Triathlon Annihilator Kristian Blummenfelt Has an Audacious Plan to Win the Tour de France

Endurance übermensch Kristian Blummenfelt has won it all in the world of Olympic and Ironman triathlon, and now he’s got an audacious plan to win the Tour de France.

The all-conquering Norwegian’s trainer Olav Aleksander Bu outlined Sunday how Blummenfelt, 30, will concentrate his three-skill focus on road racing in 2025 with the mission of beating all the WorldTour elite to the yellow jersey in 2028.

“We won’t go to cycling to retire. We go to cycling to make a difference,” Bu warned.

“In 2026, we aim to race in the Tour de France,” Bu told Norwegian outlet TV2 in an Olympic Games media conference.

“In 2027 we must be in a position to take some jerseys. If we aren’t in a position to take some stage-wins or be at the very top in the overall, it’s difficult to think we will do something magical until 2028,” Bu said Sunday.

“We think that we’ll really test it in 2027, and then the goal of going all-in in on the Tour de France in 2028.”

Blummenfelt more or less completed triathlon this decade with multiple world titles in Olympic and Ironman distance events.

The hulking Norseman will take top-favorite’s status when he lines out on the banks of the Seine – subject to the state of the pollution-scourged water – on Tuesday to defend the Olympic title he won in sensational fashion last time around in Tokyo.

Blummenfelt is the Tadej Pogačar-meets-Mathieu van der Poel of modern triathlon.

But can the 75kg swim-bike-runner simply switch sports and usurp Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard, and the Slovenian champion in the Pyrénées and Alps?

Blummenfelt and Bu have a long-term plan to make it happen and a potential three-year tie-up with WorldTour team Jayco-AlUla in the works.

“It’s 90 percent likely that we will go cycling next year,” Bu said Sunday. “The reason I say ’90’ is that we haven’t signed a contract yet. There are still a few small things that must be cleared.”

Jayco-AlUla told Velo on Monday the chatter that Blummenfelt will join the likes of Dylan Groenewegen, Simon Yates, and Lawson Craddock is all “rumor.”

However, the connections between the Aussie team and the triathlon Norse God is there.

Blummenfelt partnered the Giant/Cadex brands that support Jayco-AlUla in 2021 and has raced exclusively on its equipment ever since. He’d make for a headline name with the team given its Australian identity and the nation’s rich triathlon palmarès and thriving multi-sport culture.

Off-the-charts VO2 max and a pioneering vision

Blummefelt is unparalled in physiological terms.

He’s touted to have a VO2 max of 103 mL/kg/min, a “record-breaking” figure that far overshadows even the most chart-topping numbers recorded by pro cyclists.

American legend Greg LeMond boasts the accolade of producing some of the highest proven VO2 max numbers of a road cyclist with a number in the low 90s.

Beyond the freakish physiology, Blummenfet and Bu have a pioneering approach.

They and fellow Norwegian triathlete Gustav Iden created the so-called “Norwegian method” of lactate-controlled double threshold workout that took the sport by storm and has planted its tentacles into bike racing and ultra running.

The Triathlon Hour podcast reports that Jayo-AlUla hopes to tap into Blummenfelt and Bu’s forward-thinking ethos in their rumored 2025 tie-up.

“We’re going for cycling because we believe there is an opportunity to make a difference there,” Bu told TV2.

“We feel that the research, development, technology, and approach we have is being met with open arms in some cycling teams, who really want and understand that you need to make a further step up there,” the trainer said.

‘A few years’ of learning to top the Tour de France

“Blu” and “Bu” acknowledged this weekend that it takes more than physiological prowess to produce a Tour de France champion.

Unlike Cameron Wurf, who dovetails big-engine domestique duty for Ineos Grenadiers with his ongoing Ironman goals, Blummenfelt will need to hang with 65kg climbers on the Galibier and keep it upright on ASO’s crowd-pleasing off-road stages.

The 30-year-old will need to lose the swimmer’s shoulders and learn the lessons of the pro peloton.

“We probably need a few years,” Bu said. “The first year will probably not be the Tour de France. 2025 will probably be more of a year of mapping and learning where we have to find out where we have to improve.”

Time will tick against Blummenfelt and his wild Tour de France ambition.

The Norwegian will be 34 years old by the date of the 2028 grand départ. Cadel Evans in 2011 was last to claim the maillot jaune at such a veteran age.

Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel will be watching the endurance veteran’s development with interest.