bboseley

This is the first year I have followed the Tour de France. I love it, but will be glad when it’s over so my nerves can get back to normal. I sit and chew my nails for 5 hours a day! Anyway, I have learned a lot about the race but still have another, probably dumb, question or two.

Each team has 9 riders, correct? Do all 9 ride in each stage? If so, using Postal as an example, where are they all? Normally I see about 5, plus Lance, setting the pace for the peloton. Where are the others?

Time trials: Again, do all members ride? Of what significance is the “team time”?

Devil

Yes, all members ride. But not everyone in the team can hang with Lance when the going gets really tough in the mountains, so guys like Ekimov, Padrnos, and (usually) Hincapie are at least a few minutes back.

All members ride the time trials. The significance of the "team time" will raise/lower the team in the Team classification.

Hitchy

G'day,

and significantly, the Team time is the time of the 5th rider over the line....thats why most didn't wait for guys who had punctures or couldn't 'work' anymore,

cheers,

Hitchy

Devil

I don't think he was referring to the team time trial. My mistake if he was.

TXCiclista

I'd want qualify your statement a bit Devil. True, the other guys can't necessarily hang with Lance, but one reason they're back is because they've burned themselves up making sure Lance has more energy for the stage. bbo: by riding behind his team members, Lance can conserve something like 30% of the energy required to ride siunce they take the brunt of the wind, etc and he rides in their slipstream. They will also run ahead and "catch" any break-aways to limit time loses. Doing all of this takes a tremendous toll on their bodies. If Lance did this, he'd still be awesome, but you'd see him looking worn out as well. Basically, he starts of with 8 teammates and literally uses them up one by one until maybe only one or two are left. This helps him conserve a tremendous amount of energy

As for the "team time" they're likely referring to the competition between the teams as a whole. All of the individual riders' times are added up (or is it just the top 5 like the TTT) for an overall time. The team with the fastest time wins that particular award. Currently, I think T-Mobile is in the lead. In the past (if memory serves) the team award typically has not gone to the winner's team since he used them up for the individual win while other teams were closer and averaged out better. Someone correct me if I'm wrong (which is highly likely )...

Hitchy

G'day devil,

nope, on re-reading the original question, I think its MY mistake. It didn't occur to me he was talking about the team prize,

cheers,

Hitchy