time trial

[Luna]

Ok, I understand, we'll never gonna have seperate starts of the riders like one after one in reverse order of the actual gc standings.

But could we perhaps give a little extra advantage to the latter starters as a reward for their better position in gc? After all it's in deed a little advantage if you start later in a time trial, because you know about the performances of the other riders and you can orientate yourself towards it.

It could be only a very little advantage. Maybe a plus of 0.01 skill points in time trialling per one place in gc. In a peloton of 200 riders that would make a difference of 2 skill points between first and last starter (last and first in gc), while it wouldn't alter the outcome in the higher regions of the gc too much, only 0.1 between first and 10th.

No very huge impact on the results. But that would be already okay. Just to do a least little justice to the procedure of a real time trial.

[Buhmann]

Would this make the TT more exciting? I think not really. In most cases the favorites will profit by this improvement.

[Luna]

Not for example in the tt of the 4th stage at Dauphiné, where the gc is not already sorted by overall favourites.
And not at the secondlast day of the Tour de France. Of course, a gc rider with 60 tt would get an advantage over the last positioned time trial specialist with 90 tt. But what this was meant for is the difference between for example 2 time trial specialists, both 90 tt, one sitting in 80th position, the other on 180th. That would make an advantage for the one in 80th place.

But okay. We don't want to see teams riding for gc positions in the backfield during a sage race, however, to get their time trialists in front of the others.

[Luna]

In road races the flat skill is usually not only the factor for riding speed, but it's also a kind of a stamina skill. The more flat a rider has got, the more energy he is likely to maintain during the race until the finale.

Could we make it the same in the time trials? Then the TT skill still would influence the speed, but the loss of energy would be determined by the flat skill.
That would seperate the time trialists a bit more into prologue riders and enduring time trialists for longer distances, as the tt riders with better flat skills get better during the time trial compared to those with bad flat skills. And the whole thing could become a little less calculable.

[Bear]

Very good idea.

And the whole thing could become a little less calculable.

That's maybe the main reason to change something. I like it.

[Buhmann]

The sprint skill should influence, yes. (Sorry for not integrating this since month...). But the flat skill? I don´t know...i don´t like it really, because it is to abstruse in my opinion.

[Luna]

Why is it abstruse? In the past we have been near to totally implement the flat skill in addition to the tt skill to determine the tt speed. So it is not that perverse if the flat skill at least would decide how fast the energy would be lost on flat tt kilometers. After all the mountain and downhill skills also influence the matter on the tt climbs and tt descends.