Team Time Trial Digest
By now you know Discovery set a new record for the team time trial. The old record for average speed was set 10 years ago by Gewiss with a time trial of 54.93 kph. Discovery smashed that record with an average speed of 57.31 kph.
Here's what they didn't tell you. Domina Vacanze, the 13th place team did 67.5 kilometers in 1:13:43, or 1.228611 hours. Average speed = 54.94 kph. That's right, 13 teams broke a record that had stood for 10 years. Read that again. Over half the field beat the record.
Discovery: Yes, they are good. Popovych now wears the white jersey. They would have been better with Ekimov, so it is fitting that they dedicated the win to him.
CSC: The crash and the loss of both the stage and the jersey hurt, but in terms of the big prize, Basso has to be pleased. He lost only 2 seconds to Armstrong and put time on everyone else.
Telekom: Maybe they are reading our page. We've been ripping them big time, but they were really motivated and brought their A-game for the TTT. They've always underperformed in this event, but they were great today.
Liberty: This is the old ONCE team, what's left of it. ONCE excelled at the TTT. Last year they were awful, but they were really, really good today. Even Roberto Heras looked OK in the time trial.
Phonak: Good team, but depth is obviously a problem. This is the second consecutive year they sloughed off all but 5 men. The 5 hustle to turn in a good time, but they need to hit on all cylinders to win this thing.
Do you hate the scoring system for this thing? I'm going to take the liberty of making the very first chart of this Tour to show the differences in real time versus awarded time differences among a few teams.
Team: awarded time gap (actual gap)
Phonak: 0:50 (1:31)
Credit Agricole: 1:00 (1:41)
Illes Baleras (Banesto): 1:10 (2:05)
Gerolsteiner: 1:20 (2:05)
Euskaltel: 2:25 (3:59)
There are a lot of contenders on those teams, and they got a gift of 30-90 seconds because of the sucky rules. Did I mention that I don't like the rules?
But that hasn't prevented Mayo from losing almost 6 minutes to Armstrong before we get near a mountain.
One more look back at the finish of stage 3. After seeing the replay about a billion times, I don't think McEwen got jobbed at all. It's true that O'Grady had his arm bent out--a little bit. McEwen still initiated the contact, and he hit O'Grady with his head twice. It's a wonder they didn't wreck. Really, it's worth sending the message. If you use another guys arm as a pillow, you're getting sent to the back of the peloton.
Speaking of wrecks...Zabriskie's crash wasn't caused by a barrier or a turn, but there were still too many obstacles in the last couple km of stage 4. It's amazing no one crashed in all those turns. The Tour organizers have to avoid these things. And that part where they put in a bottleneck to cut the road to one lane was just stupid.
Finally, I should point out this is the second straight year someone has gotten screwed out of mercy because the rules of the time trial don't match that of a regular stage. If a rider crashes within the final 3 km of a flat stage, he gets the same time of the group he was with at the time of the crash. But in a team time trial that only applies to the final km. Today that cost Zabriskie his yellow jersey. Last year it cost Gilberto Simoni 2 minutes. If the Tour organizers are going out of their way to lessen the value of the TTT, they might as well give the riders the same leeway that they give for a crash on a flat stage.
Here's what they didn't tell you. Domina Vacanze, the 13th place team did 67.5 kilometers in 1:13:43, or 1.228611 hours. Average speed = 54.94 kph. That's right, 13 teams broke a record that had stood for 10 years. Read that again. Over half the field beat the record.
Discovery: Yes, they are good. Popovych now wears the white jersey. They would have been better with Ekimov, so it is fitting that they dedicated the win to him.
CSC: The crash and the loss of both the stage and the jersey hurt, but in terms of the big prize, Basso has to be pleased. He lost only 2 seconds to Armstrong and put time on everyone else.
Telekom: Maybe they are reading our page. We've been ripping them big time, but they were really motivated and brought their A-game for the TTT. They've always underperformed in this event, but they were great today.
Liberty: This is the old ONCE team, what's left of it. ONCE excelled at the TTT. Last year they were awful, but they were really, really good today. Even Roberto Heras looked OK in the time trial.
Phonak: Good team, but depth is obviously a problem. This is the second consecutive year they sloughed off all but 5 men. The 5 hustle to turn in a good time, but they need to hit on all cylinders to win this thing.
Do you hate the scoring system for this thing? I'm going to take the liberty of making the very first chart of this Tour to show the differences in real time versus awarded time differences among a few teams.
Team: awarded time gap (actual gap)
Phonak: 0:50 (1:31)
Credit Agricole: 1:00 (1:41)
Illes Baleras (Banesto): 1:10 (2:05)
Gerolsteiner: 1:20 (2:05)
Euskaltel: 2:25 (3:59)
There are a lot of contenders on those teams, and they got a gift of 30-90 seconds because of the sucky rules. Did I mention that I don't like the rules?
But that hasn't prevented Mayo from losing almost 6 minutes to Armstrong before we get near a mountain.
One more look back at the finish of stage 3. After seeing the replay about a billion times, I don't think McEwen got jobbed at all. It's true that O'Grady had his arm bent out--a little bit. McEwen still initiated the contact, and he hit O'Grady with his head twice. It's a wonder they didn't wreck. Really, it's worth sending the message. If you use another guys arm as a pillow, you're getting sent to the back of the peloton.
Speaking of wrecks...Zabriskie's crash wasn't caused by a barrier or a turn, but there were still too many obstacles in the last couple km of stage 4. It's amazing no one crashed in all those turns. The Tour organizers have to avoid these things. And that part where they put in a bottleneck to cut the road to one lane was just stupid.
Finally, I should point out this is the second straight year someone has gotten screwed out of mercy because the rules of the time trial don't match that of a regular stage. If a rider crashes within the final 3 km of a flat stage, he gets the same time of the group he was with at the time of the crash. But in a team time trial that only applies to the final km. Today that cost Zabriskie his yellow jersey. Last year it cost Gilberto Simoni 2 minutes. If the Tour organizers are going out of their way to lessen the value of the TTT, they might as well give the riders the same leeway that they give for a crash on a flat stage.
posted by uberschuck at 10:24 PM
1 Comments:
I'm with you on the TTT rules sucking serious ass. Why should you benefit if your team sucks? If the organizers are going to go out of their way to make the TTT as meaningless as possible, why even have it? It perverts the rules: your finishing time should be your finishing time. End of discussion.
I'm okay with the rules on crashing. That prevents a rider from being punished if some catastrophic happens during the bunch sprint, which seems like a cheap way to lose time. Since there is less chance of a bunch sprint on a time trial, I'm okay with a shorter "safe window" for a rider.
Really, the only contender who is done is Mayo. How about some polka dots, Iban?
Post a Comment
<< Home