Neutral zone question...

[SetonHallPirate]

In the Tour de France today (Stage 6, 2013, in case this thread gets bumped up three or four years from now), there is a 9.9 km neutral section. I understand the need for a neutral section, because I'd imagine there's some sort of jockeying for position to allow a rider to get into a break the instant the flag gets pulled in, but why on earth does it need to be 10 km long?

Meant as a serious question. Somebody who's ridden a road bike competitively more than I have (which is to say, for at least 15 seconds in their life) could answer that question better than I could, I assume.

 

[woodie]

In the Tour de France today (Stage 6, 2013, in case this thread gets bumped up three or four years from now), there is a 9.9 km neutral section. I understand the need for a neutral section, because I'd imagine there's some sort of jockeying for position to allow a rider to get into a break the instant the flag gets pulled in, but why on earth does it need to be 10 km long?

Meant as a serious question. Somebody who's ridden a road bike competitively more than I have (which is to say, for at least 15 seconds in their life) could answer that question better than I could, I assume.

The main reason for the neutral section is so that they can get the riders out of town safely. As you said they are all fighting for position so by controlling the speed through the dangerous part it makes it 'safer' (in theory). You don't want 190 guys attacking off the front through a city with road furniture everywhere.

So they might be starting in the centre of a town or a city and it's going to take 10kms to get to a safe place to start the race officially.

 

[Ferminal]

Yep... starts are usually at a significant public place, often the middle of town. Convention for safety is to start on wide open roads, so the neutral is as long as it takes to get on a good road which fits in with the course.

 

[Ney the Viking]

Also, the riders get to warmup and spectators get to see their favourite riders at a normal pace instead of *ZOOM* "Hey was that an Ogre or a Vacansoleil guy that went past?"

 

[T-Nielsen]

Also, the riders get to warmup and spectators get to see their favourite riders at a normal pace instead of *ZOOM* "Hey was that an Ogre or a Vacansoleil guy that went past?"

Yeah the towns pay a lot of money to get the start. They expect being able to see the stars and not just a blurr.

 

[RedheadDane]

It's probably in the vein of the riders need to get into position bit, but isn't it quite hard for your legs to go full smash from K-0?

 

[One Eyed Aussie]

So does someone know what the record distance for a neutral zone is? 10 kms seems a long way but I wouldn't have the faintest idea. (Or should I ask in the TDF Trivia quiz thread?)

 

[Euskaltel!]

La Vuelta in 2011 had a 37km neutralised section going down Sierra Nevada...

 

[One Eyed Aussie]

La Vuelta in 2011 had a 37km neutralised section going down Sierra Nevada...

If that was the planned neutral zone from the beginning of the stage that will be hard to beat.

 

[Yingge]

I think there was a TdF stage some years back that started at the top of Alpe d'Huez and was neutral until Bourg-d'Oisans - though that is far less than 37km.

 

[SetonHallPirate]

If that was the planned neutral zone from the beginning of the stage that will be hard to beat.

Here's the time schedule from that stage: http://www.lavuelta.com/11/en/recorrido/index.html?e=5

Given that the neutral start was at 11:30 AM, and the actual scheduled start was 12:45 PM, that's believeable.