Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 16: Passy - Combloux, 22.4k (ITT)

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If you want to be able to ride smaller gears, you need a second chainring on the bike, so yes, there is a reason.

Og course they can all just ride slower, to satisfy your weird obsession with people getting a push for 3 seconds.
your :gears argument" doesn't hold any water - they have 2 chainrings if the profile is not absolutely flat or downhill... and on the flat TT they are perfectly fine to start from standstill with one big chainring and one of the smaller gears in the back without a push. my obsession isn't about 3 seconds but with the stupidity of those 20m pushes during the ITT race. i will not engage in this debate any longer as it is obviously going nowhere.
 
perhaps UAE have recruited Usain Bolt as a mechanic for the team #marginalgainsandbigbudgets
I think bobsledders would be more effective. Interesting thing in that final Giro time trial—that had specific line beyond which no pushing was allowed. I think to try and mitigate against riders gaining too much of an advantage from the push. They couldn’t mitigate Thomas bike-helmet change deficit however.