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The group timing rule for stage finishes

I'd like to start a discussion on this topic because as things stand the rules seem rather unfair. I understand broadly why riders finishing in a group get credited with the same time (maybe partly because it makes life easier for the race organisers!). But why should a rider who finishes on his own, say, 2 seconds behind the back of a large group get penalised the time difference to the FRONT of the group?! And why does the group timing rule (i.e. all riders get credited with the same time) apply even to uphill finishes? Surely it should be every man for himself and every rider be credited with their own individual time in this type of finish.

Would welcome any thoughts, cheers!
 
Re:

VO2 Max said:
It’s the least worst option.
This.

All riders know the timing rules. So if you don’t want to lose time, don’t lose contact with the wheel in front. If you don’t want to lose big chunks of time, don’t get caught behind splits.

The timing can seem arbitrary for strung out groups where the gaps appear intermittently, where you can finish within 20m of the wheel in front and get a time 20s slower, but, again, the solution is don’t lose that wheel.
 
The scale is just right. Imaagine what would happen if the GC riders sprint in a mass sprint stage just because they can loose few seconds.
Same goes for the MTF imagine a group of 20 riders sprinting into the last hairpin 50 meters to the line there will be plenty of crashes.
Solution is simple, as mentioned above - follow the wheel of the riders in front (and hope they does aswell)
 
The alternative to being penalised relative to the front of the group is to be penalised relative to the back of the group. So if we look at stage 1's result (I'm assuming that Haussler was only just over a second behind Theuns: if that is not the case , treat it as a hypothetical)
63 Theuns Edward (last of those ST as winner)
64 Haussler Heinrich 0:22
65 Domont Axel 0:24
66 Skujiņš Toms ,,
67 Troia Oliviero 0:32

I assume the OP is suggesting that it would be fairer to have Haussler at 2 seconds,
But then would Domont be @ 4 seconds, and Oliviero @ 12? Although he was clearly more than half a minute behind and not in contact?
All that would do would penalise the first 63 finishers by 20 seconds. And that would mean giving 20 seconds back to GC contenders like Froome, Yates, Porte and Quintana.
If not you make Domont's 2 seconds to Haussler worth 22. Or would it be Oliviero's 8 seconds that become 28? or where would you make up the difference?

What is odd about the rule is that it applies unless the finish line is a classified climb. It is not that unusual for the KoM line to be 1km or so before the line, so if the bunch splits up in the climb from km3 to km1 such that there is no remaining discernable group , what time is given to the rider who punctures?
 
The OP has omitted to mention that in sprint stages on the TDF (stages 1,2,4,7,8,13,18,21), the split allowed is up to 3 seconds. So his example of 2 seconds would not apply in those stages. Of course, his concept still could be applied to a larger time gap. The rule as it stands seems fair to me,
 

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