No Aero Helmets at Olympics?

Ok, here's my noob question

Why is it that they are riding road bikes with aero bars and not TT bikes? Are these normal road bikes or is the geomoetry of the frame different. I noticed this in some of the pictures for the 70.3 in France. I was reading Triathlete magazine and it looked like most of the triathletes were riding road bikes with aero bars.

In ITU elite races, the athletes are required to have drop bars, aerobars cannot extend past the brake hoods and be bridged, tip of the saddle must be (5cm?) behind the BB and wheels must be of spoked construction (minimum 20/24 I think).  Some athletes use TT bikes with drop bars but most are using road bikes.

Shane

AFAIK, aero helmets are legal just rarely (if ever) used; the only athletes that would really see any benefit would be someone who plans to try a solo breakaway or someone who knows they will out of the water behind and are going to end up trying to TT back up to the group.

Shane

The ITU rules as stated above; but remember that they are also drafting, and in essence riding in a peleton.  TT/tri bike cockpits are potentially very dangerous in close quarters like that, since if someone happens to go down, the bars are pointing forward like a spear, and can (in theory) cause more injuries. But except for the people out in front, the drafting effect makes up for being in a less aero position.

And there has been at least one crash in almost every ITU race I've ever watched.

Shane