Plea to TdF big-wigs - please scrap the final time trial

[Gaul 58]

The race we are watching could be quite exciting, the top two guys within 40secs, now within 30secs, of each other.
But it's all over-shadowed by the prospect of one of the two taking out a 4min advantage on the time-trial.
Why not take your time-trial and stuff it into the autumn (or elsewhere) and give us some edge-of-the seat excitement in the Pyrenees.
It's ridiculous that the team with the rider in yellow is carrying the fight... it should be the other way round.

Gaul 58

 

[therhodeo]

Or better yet add another 2 TT's on the front end of the race so its not only climbers who have a chance at yellow.

 

[Anonymous]

but thats the game.. they know about it well in advance, they have time to prepare for it. Maybe baby schleck has been working on his time trialling and will stun contador.

To win the tour you need to be good at more than just one thing.

 

[Cerberus]

but thats the game.. they know about it well in advance, they have time to prepare for it. Maybe baby schleck has been working on his time trialling and will stun contador.

If he has then the prologue was a master-stroke of misdirection.

 

[scribe]

The ITT this year is gonna be pretty exciting. Who will make time on who after the Pyrenees? Much will be in play and I think that is pretty cool.

 

[SirLes]

I used to like watching time trials many years ago.

Now you can't really see anything of the riders and you know the time gaps to the nearest second all the time you don't share the riders pain and lose all the suspence of trying to guess whether someone is going faster or not.

 

[kurtinsc]

I think they should add time bonuses back for non-TT stages in the tour.

1. It encourages racing for first rather then "agreements" to help a GC guy get time.

2. If a climber is truly enough better in the mountains... they can pick up seconds through stage wins to build more of a buffer for the TT.

3. It allows sprinters to take yellow early.


How about a variety of TT's.

First... a short prologue.
Then a long and flat TT.
Then a mountain TT (like the one up the Alpe d'Huez a few years back)
Then a cobbled TT... say the last 30km of stage 3.

 

[forty four]

I think they should add time bonuses back for non-TT stages in the tour.

1. It encourages racing for first rather then "agreements" to help a GC guy get time.

2. If a climber is truly enough better in the mountains... they can pick up seconds through stage wins to build more of a buffer for the TT.

3. It allows sprinters to take yellow early.


How about a variety of TT's.

First... a short prologue.
Then a long and flat TT.
Then a mountain TT (like the one up the Alpe d'Huez a few years back)
Then a cobbled TT... say the last 30km of stage 3.

like the idea would mix it up a bit.

 

[Cobblestones]

I miss the time bonus too.

The TT should stay, but it doesn't have to be the next-to last stage. Last year that stage was Mt Ventoux (although it was anticlimactic) but at least it was a try to change the formula.

Does anyone remember the time when some days they'd race two half stages?

 

[erader]

The race we are watching could be quite exciting, the top two guys within 40secs, now within 30secs, of each other.
But it's all over-shadowed by the prospect of one of the two taking out a 4min advantage on the time-trial.
Why not take your time-trial and stuff it into the autumn (or elsewhere) and give us some edge-of-the seat excitement in the Pyrenees.
It's ridiculous that the team with the rider in yellow is carrying the fight... it should be the other way round.

Gaul 58

to win the TDF or any other GT you have to be able to TT.

erader

 

[BeachBum]

How about a variety of TT's.

First... a short prologue.
Then a long and flat TT.
Then a mountain TT (like the one up the Alpe d'Huez a few years back)
Then a cobbled TT... say the last 30km of stage 3.

Let's not forget TTT---but, if I were in charge the TTT would be closer to 40K in length. You want the spectacle, but no need to wreck somebody's Tour with it.

 

[perico]

The thing is... there is so much less TTing than in the 1980's. Where are the 70 + k TTs? When LeMond won in 1989, there was 1 prologue, 3 TTs, and a TTT.

In 1987, there was 1 prologue, 3 TTs, and a TTT.

Those were some of the best races I have ever seen.

 

[Barrus]

I miss the time bonus too.

The TT should stay, but it doesn't have to be the next-to last stage. Last year that stage was Mt Ventoux (although it was anticlimactic) but at least it was a try to change the formula.

Does anyone remember the time when some days they'd race two half stages?

Why not do the last time trial like the giro on the last day for once. It would be a fitting ending and something else than the usual sprint at the end

 

[Ryaguas]

I think they should add time bonuses back for non-TT stages in the tour.

First... a short prologue.
Then a long and flat TT.
Then a mountain TT (like the one up the Alpe d'Huez a few years back)
Then a cobbled TT... say the last 30km of stage 3.

Yes I miss the Bonuses too... with the bonuses the riders were always taking more risks

and about that TTs wow... you want to kill the riders hahaha but I agreed with the ICTT... but should be do it in Tourmalet every year

 

[Cobblestones]

Why not do the last time trial like the giro on the last day for once. It would be a fitting ending and something else than the usual sprint at the end

They scrapped that after Lemond/Fignon.

 

[Marva32]

Does anyone remember the time when some days they'd race two half stages?

Alex Steida taking yellow in the morning and losing it in the TTT in the afternoon. It was a great idea, and required good planning by the riders.

 

[Jamsque]

They are constantly tinkering with the balance of time trials in the Tour de France, and while variation is good I wish they'd pick a basic formula of some sort.

I like prologues, and I like TTTs, and I think the biggest problem people have with TTTs (that they allow powerhouse teams to put talented riders on smaller teams out of contention) can be solved by making the prologue a 10-15km flat Team Time Trial. Big rich squads are happy because they get a chance to grab the early lead, small teams are happy because they can stay in touch, fans are happy because TTTs look awesome. If they did this, and brought back time bonuses for flat stages (which I wish they would) it would even let the sprinters fight for yellow early on which is always fun.

I.T.T.s are an important part of what makes Grand Tours what they are, and I don't think they should be gotten rid of, but obviously a balance between time trials and mountains has to be struck to keep the race interesting. I think my perfect GT would feature a 25-30km ITT at the end of the first week (re-shuffle the GC but don't create any huge gaps) and a 40-50km ITT towards the end of the third (separate the men from the boys). One of them ought to have a challenging climb in it, but nothing too brutal, a cat 3 is about right. I'm not a huge fan of mountain time trials but I don't mind them once every four of five years.

I quite like the idea of bringing back the two-stage days, maybe a prologue in the morning and an inner-city crit in the evening? I'm sure the teams would complain, though, they get so irritated with any unconventional course choices these days.

 

[icefire]

Check the parcourse of TdF 1983 before complaining

Prologue: ITT 6km
2 flat ITTs of >50km each
1 TTT 100kms
2 mountain ITTs: Puy de Dome and Avoriaz

 

[the vagabond]

Time bonuses - oui. But 6-4-2, not the absurd 20-12-8. And maybe 3-2-1 on a few of the intermediate sprints and cols.

 

[icefire]

They are constantly tinkering with the balance of time trials in the Tour de France, and while variation is good I wish they'd pick a basic formula of some sort.

I like prologues, and I like TTTs, and I think the biggest problem people have with TTTs (that they allow powerhouse teams to put talented riders on smaller teams out of contention) can be solved by making the prologue a 10-15km flat Team Time Trial. Big rich squads are happy because they get a chance to grab the early lead, small teams are happy because they can stay in touch, fans are happy because TTTs look awesome. If they did this, and brought back time bonuses for flat stages (which I wish they would) it would even let the sprinters fight for yellow early on which is always fun.

I like that idea too. We'll see how that works in the Vuelta this year.

 

[Jamsque]

The Vuelta has done prologue TTT's several times in the past.

On the topic of time bonuses, I agree with 3-2-1 for intermediate sprints (not cols, there's too many of them). 6-4-2 is a bit few for the finish, though. What about 6-4-2 on summit finishes, 10-8-4 in the hills, and 20-12-6 on the dead flat?

 

[Cobblestones]

I like prologues, and I like TTTs, and I think the biggest problem people have with TTTs (that they allow powerhouse teams to put talented riders on smaller teams out of contention) can be solved by making the prologue a 10-15km flat Team Time Trial. Big rich squads are happy because they get a chance to grab the early lead, small teams are happy because they can stay in touch, fans are happy because TTTs look awesome. If they did this, and brought back time bonuses for flat stages (which I wish they would) it would even let the sprinters fight for yellow early on which is always fun.

I'm not sold on this. My main complaint with the TTT is that it usually swamps the leader board with riders of a single team. Maybe if its really, really short, and you bring big bonus seconds back for sprints, it could work as you say. But I'd rather not have it at the moment.

 

[icefire]

The Vuelta has done prologue TTT's several times in the past.

On the topic of time bonuses, I agree with 3-2-1 for intermediate sprints (not cols, there's too many of them). 6-4-2 is a bit few for the finish, though. What about 6-4-2 on summit finishes, 10-8-4 in the hills, and 20-12-6 on the dead flat?

I recall having read time bonuses regulations in UCI rules for stage races. Race organisers can only choose whether to have them or not, but not the amount of seconds or having them on cols.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

The race of truth. Say no more!

There's nowhere to hide and time is everything, man against the clock.. For me there has to be time trials, they are good indications of a riders all round value, equal to their proficiency in the mountains.

I think the longer time trial balances this mountain heavy tour perfectly, the tour route planners have done well. The fact that Contador is on par in the mountains (at least) and a better time triallist makes him a worthy champion, THE best all-rounder (counting chickens!).

 

[HokieJoe]

2. If a climber is truly enough better in the mountains... they can pick up seconds through stage wins to build more of a buffer for the TT.

I sorta' like this idea. Award bigger time bonuses for winning stages in general, and mountain stages in particular. I don't want them to do away with ITT though. The organizer's want a great all-around cyclist (not a specialist) to win the Tour.