Team Time Trial: the rules
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ByEurosport
Published 07/07/2004 at 09:29 GMT
Can't hack the pace of those team time trials? There's both good and bad news for the peloton as the Tour de France unveils its new rules for 2004. While the amount of time each team can lose has been limited, stragglers will be punished in full.
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Organisers, mindful that Wednesday's trial could burst the race wide open, have set a maximum time that each team can lose in relation to the stage winners.
Under the new regulations, the fastest team can set a new land speed record, but will still pick up no more than 20 seconds on the closest team left trailing in their wake.
Should the runners-up finish within that time, however, their actual time is used - a 12-second gap stands.
The third team can drop a maximum of 30 seconds, while the slowest outfit falls back no more than three minutes, even if they haven't arrived in Arras by nightfall.
In last year's tour the US Postal team managed to gain a commanding lead over the field, one that Lance Armstrong never relinquished. The rule change is seen in some circles as an attempt top make the task of winning a sixth straight Tour even harder..
But before any dedicated mountaineers start planning their coffee breaks, they should hear the second new rule for 2004.
While the team's time will be taken from the fifth rider to finish the trial, lagging riders can be penalised further.
Anybody deemed to be isolated from the rest of his team will be saddled with his own time. 45 minutes spent eating lunch will be penalised in full.
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