Tour de France 2013

[roundabout]

Just out of curiousity, what was the longest TTT on the WorldTour calendar aside from the one at Worlds? It couldn't have been much longer than the one at the Giro...and frankly, that's a shame. The TTTs should be close to the 60km limit, in my opinion.

2005 Tour I suppose was the longest TTT?

Maybe Eindhoven? Certainly, hasn't been that many long TTTs.

 

[LaFlorecita]

So will this time trial be a flat TT?

 

[roundabout]

luz ardiden, guzet neige, piau engaly, tramasell (i was there and it has a pleateau almost identical to hautacam but they always use the second one) and i'm sure there are some more.



or aspet, mente, portilion, bales, peyresourde, louron-azet pla d'adet 6000m of climbing, 7 cols in ~200km.

Now that you mention it, it's a good number of potential finishes.

Of course, the "issue" is that it would always be somewhat same climbs before.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Just out of curiousity, what was the longest TTT on the WorldTour calendar aside from the one at Worlds? It couldn't have been much longer than the one at the Giro...and frankly, that's a shame. The TTTs should be close to the 60km limit, in my opinion.

Totally agree.

By the way what's the myth with that 60km limit? As far as i now it says that one ITT per GT can be more then 60km. And even that is not a hard rule but more of a recomomndation.
TT can easily be longer. 65-70km would be a decent length.

 

[roundabout]

You can use Bales and Spandelles for reasonable descent finishes, wouldn't really include Pailheres though as it's a single climb stage to Les Thermes.

The closest big climb to the difficult side of Bales would be Mente, I guess. And that would be from an "easy" side. From the difficult side it would be maybe 40 km between the summit of Mente and the start of Bales.

And while there are enough MTFs, you make a good point that apart from Luchon, Loudenvielle (if they could finish there they can finish at Saint-Laury-Soulan) and Argeles-Gazost (how many finishes were there anyway?) there aren't many locations where it's straight down from the final climb.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Totally agree.

By the way what's the myth with that 60km limit? As far as i now it says that one ITT per GT can be more then 60km. And even that is not a hard rule but more of a recomomndation.
TT can easily be longer. 65-70km would be a decent length.

What, a 65-70 km long TT Time gaps would be massive

 

[LaFlorecita]

I can just imagine, next year's Tour with a 70 km long TT

TT time gaps between gc guys
Wiggins
Froome +4'
Alberto +6'30"
Andy + 10'

 

[Bavarianrider]

What, a 65-70 km long TT Time gaps would be massive

Since wehn do you actually watch cycling?
Those were the standard not so long ago. And Gaps were not all that massif.
It was just a matter of commitment. Those teams who worked hard for it were doing fine, even if they didn't have exceptionally well ITTlers.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Since wehn do you actually watch cycling?
Those were the standard not so long ago. And Gaps were not all that massif.
It was just a matter of commitment. Those teams who worked hard for it were doing fine, even if they didn't have exceptionally well ITTlers.

Wait are you talking about a ttt or a itt

 

[roundabout]

That would depend on the profile and when the TT is in the race.

Contador didn't have a good TT in the Worlds, but he only lost something like 3.3 sec/km to Martin.

 

[LaFlorecita]

That would depend on the profile and when the TT is in the race.

Contador didn't have a good TT in the Worlds, but he only lost something like 3.3 sec/km to Martin.

I think in such a long tt you will see even bigger gaps between tt specialists and the others (as in more s/km lost)

 

[Peccio89]

I remember that when they had a long ttt at the tour in 2003 or 2004 they put a limit on the losses that was based on the placement: like for example maximum 30 second gap between first and second team or something like that.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Wait are you talking about a ttt or a itt

TTT

But 65-70km ITT weren't uncommon either

 

[Bavarianrider]

I remember that when they had a long ttt at the tour in 2003 or 2004 they put a limit on the losses that was based on the placement: like for example maximum 30 second gap between first and second team or something like that.

Not in 2003. They only did it in 04/05
That was absolutely pathetic.
If they wanted smaller gaps they could have just reduced the length. it wa stotally stupid racing 70km for basically nothing.

 

[LaFlorecita]

TTT

But 65-70km ITT weren't uncommon either

Oh okay I think 65-70 km TTT is too long though, just think about all those climbers finishing outside the time limit And time gaps would be pretty big, maybe not massive but still big.

 

[roundabout]

I think in such a long tt you will see even bigger gaps between tt specialists and the others (as in more s/km lost)

Even then Contador would need to have a nightmare to lose 6.30

But that's OT.

And as for the route, I am not really sure about the MTT taking place.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I remember that when they had a long ttt at the tour in 2003 or 2004 they put a limit on the losses that was based on the placement: like for example maximum 30 second gap between first and second team or something like that.

Yes.
Plus I remember Gibo falling on wet cobbles on the final bend, finishing 6th man in the Saeco team, but finishing a couple of bike lengths behind and getting hit with his actual time loss, which was a lot more.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Even then Contador would need to have a nightmare to lose 6.30

But that's OT.

And as for the route, I am not really sure about the MTT taking place.

I'm just guessing, we don't know how they'd do in a 70 km TT

 

[Bavarianrider]

Oh okay I think 65-70 km TTT is too long though, just think about all those climbers finishing outside the time limit And time gaps would be pretty big, maybe not massive but still big.

Hmm time limit would not be an issue if they set the limit at a genereous mark. Let' say 35%.
But it's not going to happen anyway.
I think if there's a chance to see something that long again, the chance that the Giro does it is actually higher.
ASo is not willing to do really hard stages anymore. Neither in the mountains, nor in TTes. Sad but true.

 

[roundabout]

I remember that when they had a long ttt at the tour in 2003 or 2004 they put a limit on the losses that was based on the placement: like for example maximum 30 second gap between first and second team or something like that.

Not 30 seconds, 20 seconds.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2005//tour05/?id=stages/tour054#rules

 

[Red Rick]

I can just imagine, next year's Tour with a 70 km long TT

TT time gaps between gc guys
Wiggins
Froome +4'
Alberto +6'30"
Andy + 10'

I'm gonna design a tour where with a 70km itt where wiggins will be crying after he sees the mountains

 

[Descender]

2005 Tour I suppose was the longest TTT?

Maybe Eindhoven? Certainly, hasn't been that many long TTTs.

I seem to remember they had a +70 kms TTT in 1985 (or maybe 86).

No time to check...

EDIT: OK I did check. 73 kms long TTT in 1985, and a 100km one in 1983!!! They actually had several +70 kms TTTs in the early 80s (and even had two TTTs for a combined 111 TT kms in 1980...)

EDIT AGAIN: Lol I feel like I've never known this... in 1979 they had two TTTs as well, the first one being 87 kms long and the second one being 90 kms long! The year before they had a single TTT though... that was 153 kms long. Which was a major change from the single TTT the year before, which was 4 kms long...

 

[SetonHallPirate]

Totally agree.

By the way what's the myth with that 60km limit? As far as i now it says that one ITT per GT can be more then 60km. And even that is not a hard rule but more of a recomomndation.
TT can easily be longer. 65-70km would be a decent length.

Not a myth, and it's a hard-and-fast rule. See Page 42 here: http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/g...&ObjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=34028&LangId=1

 

[SetonHallPirate]

2005 Tour I suppose was the longest TTT?

Maybe Eindhoven? Certainly, hasn't been that many long TTTs.

I should have clarified...I meant, in this year's WorldTour calendar, what was the longest TTT.

Edit: Just checked...here are all of the TTTs that took place at WorldTour events (it's not a long list):

Stage 1, Tirreno-Adriatico, 16.9 km
Stage 4, Giro d'Italia, 33.2 km
Stage 2, Eneco Tour, 18.9 km
Stage 1, Vuelta a Espana, 16.5 km

Frankly, those numbers are embarassing. TTTs really need to be longer...even the one at the Giro isn't long enough, IMO.

 

[airstream]

i think nowadays when no one tries to make a decisive move earlier than from 5k to go (i'm saying about classic positional scenatio, not about galibier or fuente de), absence or presence of flat section betwen the last and the penultimate climb is quite token. anyways big guns are afraid to remain alone too early, waiting for dropped gregarios..