Team Time Trial

Lisbon

No i'm not from Portugal. I got the name while following the UEFA EURO 2004 tourniment. As you know it was the city that they played the final in.

gntlmn

People keep talking about how they don't like the time gain with the new rule that a well prepared team has to give up when they do well against the others. But they fail to mention, and I've looked through a lot of posts, that this may make the TTT a safer race. Since you cannot pile on your gains, it makes no sense to take risks. They are way more focused on avoiding crashes as a leading team. This was also a big factor in leaving Noval behind--to avoid risking a crash.

I'm beginning to see the wisdom that the race organizers bring to this event. I didn't see this at first, but this may be better than the way it was last year, all things considered.

birdman23

Yeah I was sad to see Portugal loose in the final.

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musette

The TTT sequence of finishers within a team shows how deliberate USPS is as well. LA crossed before the fifth person (maybe second??), making sure that he would not be considered the laggard.

CSC shouldn't complain that Sastre didn't get the benefit of the team time. The team was just not careful enough.

Similarly for Saeco. Under the new 2:30 limit rule, it's clear that the leader should cross as one of the first four. That was always the case, to avoid a time lag that would delay the leader. However, under the 2:30 rule, it's more imperative.


An article notes:

"Had [Simoni's] team mates waited for him [they didn't know he had crashed], he would have lost one minute and 30 seconds on Armstrong, but because he crossed the line six seconds behind, his actual time was taken into account and the twice Giro champion found himself 2:42 adrift. 'I personally intervened to ask race officers to apply the spirit of the rule and not the letter in the Simoni's case. But they said the rule was the rule,' Leblanc said."

musette

LA's publicist was in the third USPS car following the TTT, and followed Noval after he was dropped:

"It was not long before Benjamin had some trouble yesterday. The boys were flying from the start and that, combined with his two crashes, he just did not have it yesterday. The third car needs to stay in the back in case there are any mechanical problems or a rider gets dropped. So I spent the last 50K or so watching poor Benjamin struggle to keep it going, and on the phone trying to get the split times. All along the route the fans were great, cheering and clapping him along. This is Tour for you: at some points people were driving on the course coming towards him thinking that the race was over. When we finally got the word that the team had won, we pulled up along side Benjamin and told him the news, encourage him, and to remind him to be careful in some of the final turns. Mind you, my Spanish is bad, so it was something like "OK! OK! Numero Uno!" I think he got the point, but I wouldn't have blamed him for clocking me with his water bottle. By far the best part of the day was Benjamin crossing the line and heading back to the media pit behind the podium. The boys waited for him to arrive before they did the team ceremony. The other 8 are dry and in fresh uniforms, while Benjamin is up there soaked to the bone. But he made it. Chechu put his arm around him and told him that it doesn't matter, we are up here together."

musette

More on Noval. In the OLNTV coverage today regarding the first week of the Tour, Noval is shown just having finished his individual TT essentially during the TTT stage. He is literally in tears and very distraught, as Chechu and Beltran console him, surrounding him.

He will be fine, and will help LA more in the mountains than VHP could. Noval clearly cares about supporting LA. Subsequent to the TTT, Noval gave his back wheel to LA after the first of two LA crashes on one stage.