Professional Cycling For the Fans - Final TT question

How come during the TDF, that during the final TT stage that when like lance does better than Jan that it just automatically gives him the win, why cant e.g. jan get the time back in the final stage?

He could put time on him if he wanted - or was able to. There's no way though that Postal would allow Jan or anyone who threatens Lance's GC place to get away.

But I meqan in general, like 2003 he had 60 sec, i think that jan could have gotten it back? Or is it that the postal team is like a wall and if you try they wil take you out immediatley? is it a rule or something that jsut happens?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=41416&highlight=french+press

But I mean in general, like 2003 he had 60 sec, i think that Jan could have gotten it back? Or is it that the postal team is like a wall and if you try they will take you out immediately? is it a rule or something that just happens?

The problem is one guy just isn't ever going to out-ride the peloton... ever. Breaks in the TDF are allowed to go away for a number of reasons but the main component of every long break is that no one in the break is a serious GC threat. Jan is a fantastic rider but he cannot ride the whole USPS team off his wheel and gain 60+ seconds. Even if T-Mobile decided to ride as hard as they could, USPS will just sit in and enjoy the ride with Jan making no time gains.

But I meqan in general, like 2003 he had 60 sec, i think that jan could have gotten it back? Or is it that the postal team is like a wall and if you try they wil take you out immediatley? is it a rule or something that jsut happens?

If Lance has 60 seconds on Jan, Jan would have to finish a stage 61 seconds ahead of Lance to take the lead. 60 seconds is a lot to gain on Lance in a TT and on a flat stage there is no way that Lance and his team would ever let Jan get 61 seconds ahead.

I get it, Now i am pretty constricted to only the last couple tdfs, are they mostly like this? or has it ever gone down to the last stage?

In '89 the final stage was a TT. LeMond trailed Fignon by 50 seconds. Greg made up that time and won by 8 seconds.

It was arguably the greatest TT in TDF history.

Watching video of Fignon more or less fall of the bike at the finish line and collapse, knowing he went his hardest and still was not good enough gives me goosebumps.
http://grahamwatson.com/dublin/misc/images/image81.jpg

Watching video of Fignon more or less fall of the bike at the finish line and collapse, knowing he went his hardest and still was not good enough gives me goosebumps.
http://grahamwatson.com/dublin/misc/images/image81.jpg


Look at Laurent with not even a helmut to cut down wind resistance, and his pony tail flappin in the breeze. Who was it that stated that cutting off his pony tail would have resulted in enough decrease in resistance to make up Greg's eight seconds? :p

I still remember watching the prologue in 1990 with just about everyone in the peleton using TT bars after Greg's amazing ride the year before.

Isn't Lemond's '89 ride still the fastest ITT in history?

Isn't Lemond's '89 ride still the fastest ITT in history?It was the best (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cycling/1998/tourdefrance/tourdefrancearchive/tour2.html).

Isn't Lemond's '89 ride still the fastest ITT in history?
I am not sure whats the fastest ITT In history, but I know that Rik Verbrugghe set the record for the fastest prologue at the 2001 Giro. 7.6km at 58.874kph.

Watching video of Fignon more or less fall of the bike at the finish line and collapse, knowing he went his hardest and still was not good enough gives me goosebumps.


I don't have the video, but I watched that time trial - Fignon did not believe that he could be beaten and did not go out that hard, there was a point where he realized that he needed to go harder. While he has been gracious, and comments that he wishes people would remember his wins, I've always been sure that he feels that he could, and should, have won in 89.

When Fignon came onto the Champs' he was actually 2 seconds ahead on GC, he lost 10 seconds on the final straight.

It was the best (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/cycling/1998/tourdefrance/tourdefrancearchive/tour2.html).


Thanks for that link. I've seen the highlights, but I had never read that article in SI. Makes me want to go get that DVD.

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Fignon was never the most likeable rider in the peloton. I almost felt bad for him at that moment though.

Despite that loss, he was a great rider. 2 TDF, 1 Giro, 2 Milan San Remos and Flèche Wallone.

Not a bad career.