how does a time trial work?

[Dean]

I'm new to cycling. How does a time trial work, and how is it different than a normal stage? Do they
just race 1 at a time instead of all together? How far do they spread the cyclists apart?

[Inconnu]

On Sat, 05 Jul 2003 14:47:28 -0700, Dean wrote:

> I'm new to cycling. How does a time trial work, and how is it different than a normal stage? Do
> they just race 1 at a time instead of all together? How far do they spread the cyclists apart?

Yes, the riders go one at a time and race against the clock rather than directly against each other,
although the idea is of course to have the fastest time and so ~beat~ all the others, even though
they finished their ride as much as an hour or more before.

The interval at which the riders are dispatched is usually calculated as being adequate to prevent
slower riders being caught by faster riders.

A minute is adequate for a Major Tour prologue which is in any instance just a short ~power trip~.

For longer time trials later in stage races (or even in events that are solely a time trial) the
intervals are increased based on the distance and the liklihood of riders being caught by a
faster rider.

Similarly, the teams are usually separated. ie a rider from the same team usually does not follow a
team mate out of the starting ramp.

I actually rode a long distance club place to place record attempt one time where they separated us
by 15 minutes!!!

[Bret Wade]

"Dean" <noreply@fakeaddress.com> wrote in message news:be7h1h$348$1@news01.intel.com...
> I'm new to cycling. How does a time trial work, and how is it different
than
> a normal stage? Do they just race 1 at a time instead of all together? How far do they spread the
> cyclists apart?

Time trials don't "work". That all end in utter confusion for all involved.

Bret

[Cutter]

Usually 30 second intervals by a starting clock. No drafting, fastest time wins. It may take an hour
or more to get the race started, (120 cyclists) also if the wind picks up or changes direction,
starting time may be important.

[Dean]

"inconnu" <inconnu@cpe0050da66e294-cm0f2069983361.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com> wrote in message
> Yes, the riders go one at a time and race against the clock rather than directly against each
> other, although the idea is of course to have the fastest time and so ~beat~ all the others, even
> though they finished their ride as much as an hour or more before.

Thanks, that was very helpful. One followup question, now that that prologue time trial is complete,
what do the winners earn? Do they get to start the next stage first? Since Armstrong finished 7
seconds behind, does that mean he will start the next stage 7 seconds after McGee starts?

[G]

Dean <noreply@fakeaddress.com> wrote:

> "inconnu" <inconnu@cpe0050da66e294-cm0f2069983361.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com> wrote in message
> > Yes, the riders go one at a time and race against the clock rather than directly against each
> > other, although the idea is of course to have the fastest time and so ~beat~ all the others,
> > even though they finished their ride as much as an hour or more before.
>
> Thanks, that was very helpful. One followup question, now that that prologue time trial is
> complete, what do the winners earn? Do they get to start the next stage first? Since
> Armstrong finished 7 seconds behind, does that mean he will start the next stage 7 seconds
> after McGee starts?

No. The next stage is not a TT. It is a regular mass start race. The whole shoomozle starts at the
same time.

My charity work is done Be kind to the woodwork GK

[Heather Halvors]

g wrote:
>
>
> My charity work is done Be kind to the woodwork GK

there's a tour faq on cyclingnews.com that people could read, although of course it doesn't answer
everything-

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=features/FAQ