No drinks inside last 15kms

Coriander

Why are the riders not allowed to pick up extra drink in the last 15kms? Given the heat and the distances they've already travelled by then that seems a bit harsh.

Thanks.

Kléber

It's to stop the team cars coming up and giving breakaway riders shelter from a crosswind and from the short moment when the manager passes a bottle to the rider. The manager holds out the bottle, the rider grabs it and by strange co-incidence, the manager's foot slips on the accelerator and within a few seconds' time our breakaway rider is doing 60km/h.

Sometimes the rule is eased if it's very hot, especially on a mountain summit finish where the last 15km can take some time.

But otherwise it's assumed that at 45km/h+, the last part of the race will last 20 minutes and the riders will have had time to collect two full bottles.

Coriander

ah, ok, that makes sense, thank you.

Which reminds me, someone in Cofidis did that holding-on-to-the-bottle-while-someone-in-the-car-also-did thing for ages on Sunday - about half a minute. At what point are they penalised for catching a lift?

afx237vi

Coriander wrote:

ah, ok, that makes sense, thank you.

Which reminds me, someone in Cofidis did that holding-on-to-the-bottle-while-someone-in-the-car-also-did thing for ages on Sunday - about half a minute. At what point are they penalised for catching a lift?

Generally the commissaires will look the other way if a rider is just getting a little help after a crash or a mechanical, but they're usually pretty vigilant if it happens at an important point in the race, like on a climb.

Levi Leipheimer was given a 10 second penalty in 2007 when he needed a bike change on a climb and the Discovery mechanic hung out the car window "adjusting his saddle" while the driver floored it. It was pretty blatant, but the 10 second penalty was probably worth the energy he would have expended trying to fight his way back to the leaders on his own. Although in the end, he did miss 2nd place overall by 8 seconds...

liversedge

Also it would be dangerous having cars mixed in with stage finishes.

knedlicky

Coriander wrote:

Why are the riders not allowed to pick up extra drink in the last 15kms?

I thought it was 25 km, but eitherway …

Occasionally you see riders in breakways getting two (supposedly full) bottles about 25 km from the finish. They of course don’t need one whole litre of liquid that close to the end, nor have the time or opportunity to drink much, so it’s just a game.
Sometimes you see a rider discard one of the bottles, which they were newly given, soon after receiving it – so maybe it was empty to begin with, just an excuse for 10 secs pull?

Blonde

I agree with liversedge that It's pretty dangerous to have vehicles any where near a sprint finish, or really near any finsh where the pace of the main peloton goes up. On a summit finish, the roads are usually quite narrow and with crowds, so a load of team cars would really get in the way.