The Team Time Trial is my favorite cycling discipline. The rapidity of travel and the precision of concerted movements, makes it the most exciting and desperate act of stage racing.Despite the fact that Tour organizers eliminated time bonuses from this year's race, the practice may effectively reduce the number of contenders for the overall once the 39km Team Time Trial is completed.
In past editions of the race, when organizers included the discipline, teams that lost would at worse receive a set time penalty based on where they finished, often times losing no more than 2 or 3 minutes in spite of when they actually stopped the clock.
But the "no gifts" rule employed in this year's Tour means that teams and therefore their leaders will receive the actual time on the clock.
The Contenders
Astana - After the opening Individual Time Trial, the list of Team Time Trial contenders should begin and end with Team Astana. A error free time trial should easily bring them the victory.
Team Columbia - HTC - Bob Stapleton's crew essentially practiced for the discipline during the wind blown Stage 3 to La Grande Motte. After that effort and in delivering Mark Cavendish to victories in successive day, it remains to be seen what the boys from San Luis Obispo have left in the tank.
Team Saxo Bank - A team with locomotives such as Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Fabian Cancellara, Jens Voigt, Gustav Erik Larsson, and Nicki Sörensen can not be counted out.
Garmin - Slipstream - If practice makes perfect, then a team that features Bradley Wiggins (GBr), David Zabriskie (USA), David Millar (GBr), Christian Vande Velde (USA), Tyler Farrar (USA), Ryder Hesjedal (Can), and Julian Dean (NZl) is sure to be there at the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment