I wouldn't say that if you race on a triple you will be dropped... Its just that if you use it on a lot of hills you will be dropped - unless you are spinning 140rpms or something to climb. You just can't climb with as much speed, obviously... that said, there was a guy recently in Europe who used a triple... Was it Roberto Heras? I forget... someone did... Surely they weren't using a 30-23 to climb anything...