Mountain Team Time Trial

[Sum_of_Marc]

Umm... 90 seconds would be a big loss for most GC guys. I say, everyone gets their own time. Times differences (depending on the length) would be minimal and it would be great to watch. The CSC domination from 04 is a little worrying though. We don't want that.

That would probably be the fairest way it could work. Teams with strong climbing support will still win, but GC riders with weaker mountain support would not suffer so much.

 

[The Hitch]

Hopefully GC contenders are not going to be on teams finishing 14th and 15th on the day. If they are (like Evans and BMC for the Giro) then it will force teams to select their riders more carefully. BMC could have brought a stronger climbing team to the Giro, they just chose not to.

For example if BMC has Evans, Santambrogio, and Morabito finishing 8th on the day behind a winning Liquigas team with Basso, Szmyd, and Kiserlovski, then BMC receives 10 bonus seconds and Liquigas 90. That loss in time is 1 second less than what BMC lost in the 32 km TTT this past Giro.

In the end 90 seconds is not too much compared to what some teams lose in a super long flat TTT. And if a team has above average climbers to compliment the GC rider, then the time lost to the winning team will be less than a minute.

Yes but in this case, Cuddles loses 1 and a half minutes, for what. In the Giro ttt he in theory got his own time, and he was able to use his superior tt skills to carry his team, help them out.

On a mountain tt all he can do is look on helplessly, either soft pedalling himself or pointlessly tiring himself out, as weak climbers on his team cost him big time.

It would be worse than the wheel change in Vuelta 09.

 

[nvpacchi]

Yes but in this case, Cuddles loses 1 and a half minutes, for what. In the Giro ttt he in theory got his own time, and he was able to use his superior tt skills to carry his team, help them out.

On a mountain tt all he can do is look on helplessly, either soft pedalling himself or pointlessly tiring himself out, as weak climbers on his team cost him big time.

It would be worse than the wheel change in Vuelta 09.

Then there would be more incentive for BMC to throw a few more climbers onto the squad.

What if you only took the time of the top 2 riders? Or what if the bonus seconds were less (60-50-40-30-25-20....)? I still feel not using overall times, and giving bonus seconds is the most fair way to do it.

 

[hfer07]

And why not? I dont know if its possible, but say why

will work if: A team has at least 5 pure & good climbers to cross the line all together
won't work if: they lack the above...

 

[jsem94]

How badly would HTC suck at this. That'd be fun.

 

[Rocksteady]

Then there would be more incentive for BMC to throw a few more climbers onto the squad.

What if you only took the time of the top 2 riders? Or what if the bonus seconds were less (60-50-40-30-25-20....)? I still feel not using overall times, and giving bonus seconds is the most fair way to do it.

What would be wrong with overall times the way it has been describe earlier? The way you suggest would hurt riders on weak teams. If each rider gets their own time, we could still see a great rider from a weak team TT all the way up by themselves and take the win!

Or to put it another way, how are bonus seconds better?

 

[kuat2770]

They tried a team time trial up a mountain in one of the early season races a couple of years back in early 00's. IIRC it was the tour of the med, blew the race to pieces. I think they had a flat section then the climb, and 5 team members had to be together at the bottom of the climb then everyone got individual times at the top. I think either CSC or ONCE won...

 

[kuat2770]

Further to the above post it was the 2004 Tour of the Med with a ttt up Mount Faron. CSC won...

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2004/feb04/med04/med045

Sad that I can remember that :/

 

[The Hitch]

Further to the above post it was the 2004 Tour of the Med with a ttt up Mount Faron. CSC won...

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2004/feb04/med04/med045

Sad that I can remember that :/

It was already mentioned on this thread but well done for remembering.

 

[pedaling squares]

I like the idea from a spectator's perspective but it's going to mean teams either bring climbers and don't bother contesting flat stages, or they prepare for the sprints and forget about the overall. That happens to a point anyway but it might make for even less competition for each stage, and more boring stages where only a few guys are going for the win.

Or, with the proposed rule change, we'd essentially have an ITT with drafting. I think the stage itself would be exciting, but the effect on GC would make the race less exciting.