Each team starts with 9 riders, and it’s time is measured by the 5th rider to cross the finish line. Therefore, it seems to me that when a team like Disco crosses the line with all 9 riders, they’ve left some time on the table. Why not let the train break apart at the end and let the slower riders peal off one by one end to finish with your 5 fastest guys going all out?
The only thing I can think of is that it is still faster to take fewer pulls, even at a slightly lower speed.
Who’s got the inside dish?
Why do it? Because they can. It’s a statement of team unity when you can finish all together. And as David Z demonstrated, it ain’t over til it’s over. A crash in the final kms can take out half the team in a split second. If you have nine riders near the end, 4 can crash and you can still finish with a good time.
go to cyclingnews.com and look at yesterdays stage they have a link to the new TTT rules implemented last year. DZ wasn’t given the same time as his team he finished 1:26 back so that was the time given. it is like a sprint finish if you are in the pack you get the same time but if there is a gap you get your own time. if DZ had crashed 500m later within the last 1k he would have been given the same time as the team.
Branden
You can go faster by spreading the workload between 9 riders. Fewer riders means each rider must spend more time at the front of the paceline (which obviously makes you more tired). The slower guys just take shorter pulls, rather than actually holding a slower pace. As for finishing with only the 5 fastest guys going all out…the only person going all-out is the one at the front of the train. If all 5 guys go all out, then nobody will be drafting, which undermines the point of the TTT.
a good way to finish is to have a couple riders pull so hard they completely blow up and can’t finish with the group. this would be a good strategy to use on sections with a strong headwind, have someone not in the gc hunt absolutely kill themselves going into a headwind. gives other riders a little bit longer rest and keeps up your speed.
That’s basically what I meant. But why not do it with 4 guys consecutively at the very end, regardless of wind?
Place holding. For every man Disco has high on GC that is one less place an opposing team can occupy. Like chest pieces on a board they play a defensive role, deployed across the GC so as to dissuade opposition from the virtual high ground that closer time gaps would afford.
“The only thing I can think of is that it is still faster to take fewer pulls, even at a slightly lower speed.”
Dire Wolf you’re a funny guy. How can anything go faster when doing a slightly lower speed? (How does one come and go at the same time?)
As the guys said here and as you say, “The only thing I can think of is that it is still faster to take fewer pulls” then a higher speed not lower will be maintained. The idea is the highest possible speed is maintained without losing that speed even when interchanging the front man. The stronger guys contribute longer pulls while the weaker riders do their part for less time but also contributing to others wheel sucking time to recuperate when they are pulling. The more riders there are the more wheel sucking time for each member to recupe for their turn on the hard pull, thus making it possible to maintain a higher overall speed for the team. So ideally all nine riders charge in at a higher speed but only the 5th rider is clocked anyways.
Plus there’s the morale for the team if they can all stick together and you don’t have riders losing out on the GC points from falling back.
On the track it’s most obvious in the team pursuits. With 2 teams racing against each other. The second one team loses a rider that team starts to slow down. Sometimes in team pursuit the weakest rider peels off at the end after his last pull as he won’t be contributing anymore anyway (and there’s no GC to consider), leaving the strongest members to do a final sprint for the finish. I reckon those tandums and triples on the track should be brought back. With todays technology the speeds would be awesome!
Imagine a Time Trial specific Tandum. Like a P3C tandum, or an LA Trek TT bike tandum or a BMC TT bike tandum… same slippery profile double up the power!
Plus there’s the morale for the team if they can all stick together and you don’t have riders losing out on the GC points from falling back.<<
And as the three weeks go by and it gets harder and harder, that morale becomes important and feeds on itself. Remember Benjamin Noval last year in tears after popping off the back of the USPS train early. They held the winner’s ceremony until he finished so he could be on the podium with him. This year he rode like part of the well-oiled machine.
Plus, there is the team competition, which not the main consideration, is still important.
Yeah Cathy,
In such a situation where the pace is not dictated by you, when you over cook it you blow and you’re gone. It doesn’t matter how strong your mind is.
Yes this year Noval did a sterling job, more than his fair share pulling up front. I’ll bet he did all he could to pre-condition himself for it.
Sure to win the team competition is a win in itself but another great morale booster to the team for the rest of the tour.