"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Same time

just read on cyclngnews.com that the final km "same time" rule has been moved out to 3000 metres. Good move....should provide much safer finales at this year's Tour.

Now if we could just get them to change DNF (Did Not Finish) to DNTE (Did Not Train Enough)

This is only for crashes, so everyone else still has to bump and grind to stay in the peloton to get the same time as the winner.

I'm not quite sure how it will make the sprints less chaotic though. All it really does is provide an additional buffer for the victims of a crash so they don't lose time on GC. The sprinters are still going to go for the win and the Scott Sunderland's(I know he's retired) are still going to stick their noses into the sprints and pi$$ off the sprinters by making the sprints more chaotic. If they really want to make the sprints less chaotic, they could ban Rene Hasselbacher. :D

Also of note that Phonak seems to have gutted it's team enough to satisfy the Tour's organizers.

It'll make them less chaotic by letting sprinters and their teams be the only ones up front for the last 3 km rather than 1. The way it worked before was that GC riders would ride at the front and be bumping shoulders with the sprinters' teams up till 1 km to go, so that if there were a crash in the field, it would most likely be behind them and they wouldn't lose time. Once 1 km hit, they would back off and let the sprinters do their thing, knowing that even if there were a crash that they got caught up in, they wouldn't lose time. However, 1 km isn't enough for a sprinter's team to wind him up, so they're mixing it up well before the 1 km mark, meaning there are way too many people at the front of the race, making a crash a lot more likely. With the new rule, GC riders will back off at 3 km, allowing the sprinters' teams up to the front with time to get their sprinter ready to rock and roll. So hopefully the number of people battling for a front position between 1 and 3 km to go will be drastically reduced, lowering the odds of a crash.

I hope that all made sense.

Oh So your saying that sprinters dont matter that much, and that gc riders are better, your sying it is better to topple the sprinterf than the GC riders there riders too :D

Uh.... what?

Now if we could just get them to change DNF (Did Not Finish) to DNTE (Did Not Train Enough)


Ha! I like that.....:D

Uh.... what?


I was sarcastic, it did imply that it is better to have a crash happen before the gc riders get their, or something like that, in the end i was kidding.

It'll make them less chaotic by letting sprinters and their teams be the only ones up front for the last 3 km rather than 1. The way it worked before was that GC riders would ride at the front and be bumping shoulders with the sprinters' teams up till 1 km to go, so that if there were a crash in the field, it would most likely be behind them and they wouldn't lose time. Once 1 km hit, they would back off and let the sprinters do their thing, knowing that even if there were a crash that they got caught up in, they wouldn't lose time. However, 1 km isn't enough for a sprinter's team to wind him up, so they're mixing it up well before the 1 km mark, meaning there are way too many people at the front of the race, making a crash a lot more likely. With the new rule, GC riders will back off at 3 km, allowing the sprinters' teams up to the front with time to get their sprinter ready to rock and roll. So hopefully the number of people battling for a front position between 1 and 3 km to go will be drastically reduced, lowering the odds of a crash.

I hope that all made sense.

Well, it does make sense, excepting one thing. The GC riders are not going to want to be in a crash at any point in the race, whether it is 500m from the finish or 2000m from the finish. A crash can potentially end the race for you, so they will still attempt to position themselves to avoid crashes; at least I would even if there is a wider margin to work with.

I beleive this new rule is in response to numerous rider complaints caused by several wrecks during the first 10 days of lst years Tour de France. I remember Tyler Hamilton colorfully complaining to Tour Director le Blanc at the start of one stage. I think every rider last year crashed at one point during the TdF.

If the Tour really wanted to reduce crashes they would improve the run in to the sprint. The crash Tyler got caught up in occured on a finish that had a curve (!) roughly 500 meters from the finish. That combined with the ever increasing amount of road furniture is just a recipe for disaster.

Towns that want to host Tour finishes need to be required to supply a straight finish of no less than 2 k.

Towns that want to host Tour finishes need to be required to supply a straight finish of no less than 2 k.


This is a good point. Forcing riders off main roads where they might be barrelling along at 65kmh onto a finishing circuit around a town designed to give it maximum exposure (and usually maximum roundabouts) is a recipe for disaster. But I think the SDTDF is now starting to realise this......after years of rider complaints and first week pile-ups!