Originally Posted by
rex615
What about a team time trial, has that ever been done in a tour? I guess it would have to be done early in the race before attrition whittled the teams down.
It has been done a lot and with a lot of variations. At one point it did not count toward individual standings. Others had just a small bonus impact on the individual standings. Recently it has been eitehr the actual time (of the 5th rider) counting for individual standing, though fairly recently it has been that with a maximum that can be lost.
As you point out it has to be early and if the total time is used the result is contenders are all but eliminated before they even have a chance to do anything as an individual. Which is why the tour organizers, most riders and many fans are not thrilled with TTTs.
Today there is a problem with super profesionalism. That is in the sense of being focused on just one goal. The TTT has to count for the GC or many teams will not try much, but if theams can get a large payoff it can ruin hte race. 30 years ago winning the TTT itself was enough to get a good if not total effort.