Bikes and drugs and let it roll

[ericjarvis]

As they do the final circuits before the finish in the Champs-Élysées a few musings on road cycling

Comments

[pendlemac]

One way the TdF can improve their image is to start timing the stages properly instead of giving the time of the peleton leader to all in the peleton. ( If they're not sure how just ask the guys who time the London Marathon. :-) )

According to the offical results the other day at least 70 riders crossed the line within the same second! ( Time for 40th and 110th place were exactly the same. ) Is that physically possible?

[ericjarvis]

It's a necessity to do the timing that way. Simply because if you have a large group of riders reaching the line at the same time there's a limit to how many can ride abreast. So what you'd end up with is sprinting right the way down the pack including by riders too tired or inexperienced to sprint safely. It would be complete carnage.

So it's set up so that there's an incentive for the specialist sprinters to have a go at the end of most stages by giving points towards the green hersey on the basis of the position they finish independent of the timing. Everyone else is given an incentive to stay out of the way by giving them all the same time regardless of how long it takes the pack to cross the line.

It also means you can't claw back time on a rival by having teammates block them from getting to the front of the peloton.

Having twenty guys doing a hell for leather sprint to the line is one thing, having two hundred doing it is quite another.

[aligoestonz]

Remind me to tell you the story about the lawnmowers at some point.