The Tour de France’s route was out and one of the features of the 2019 course was the lack of time trialling, both in the number of stages and the few kilometres on offer. It’s part of a trend as the chart above shows. One frequent response in the comments and by email in recent days is that more time trials, whether more stages or just one long time trial, would “balance” the Tour’s course and give time trial specialists and others more of a chance against the pure climbers. It’s an idea that sounds right… only recent evidence suggests otherwise.
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Running Out of Time
No wonder Esteban Chaves was smiling on Sunday. He’d won a Monument and a World Tour race and the hilly course was perfect for a rider who styles himself as a colibri, a hummingbird because he’s so light. The World Tour is over now and along the way there are chances for many with with races for the sprinters, stage race specialists and more. There’s almost something for everyone in the World Tour… except the time trial specialists. In fact there’s not a single dedicated time trial which means they lack the opportunity to win the precious ranking points associated with their specialism. A stage win here or there only offers a fraction of what’s available to other specialists during the season.
The Year of the Climber
Chro-no: TTs will be rare in 2011 Grand Tours If 2011 welcomes the Chinese year of the rabbit, for pro cyclists it looks like the year of the mountain goat. Why? Well none other that 2009 Dutch time trial champion Stef Clement has been busy with his calculator this morning and put his workings on … Read more