TDF what's the time difference between first and last?

carl_p

A dumbass question may be but I don't pretend to know much at all about the pro race scene. So using yesterday's (medium difficulty?) mountain stage, what would be the time difference between Chavanel crossing the line and the guy finishing last? A meaningless statistic possibly, but on the otherhand puts into perspective how fast some riders are compared to others over certian types of course.

Also is there the equivalent of a "broom wagon" on the TDF? Do you run the risk of being disqualified if you are too slow?

FJS

Carl_P wrote:

A dumbass question may be but I don't pretend to know much at all about the pro race scene. So using yesterday's (medium difficulty?) mountain stage, what would be the time difference between Chavanel crossing the line and the guy finishing last? A meaningless statistic possibly, but on the otherhand puts into perspective how fast some riders are compared to others over certian types of course.

Also is there the equivalent of a "broom wagon" on the TDF? Do you run the risk of being disqualified if you are too slow?

The finish times of every single rider are free for everyone to see at teh Tour de France website: http://www.letour.fr/2010/TDF/LIVE/us/7 ... index.html
On a hilly stage like yesterday, there was a large group of riders coming in 'last', just over 22 minutes behind Chavanel. Today and tomorrow in the mountains the differences will be larger.

What put's things even more in perspective than the relatively small differences between the pros in the TdF is comparing the average speeds of supposedly slow-climbing sprinters and so in the TdF with times of amateurs who consider themselves good climbers...

shisaa

And yes you can get excluded from the race if you are too slow. I think it's calculated as a percentage of the stage winners time, but they sometimes overlook this if it means excluding a lot of riders. Obviously this has an effect on how far back the last group will finish, as they try and keep an eye on how far behind they are from the leaders.

morstar

Showing my age here but in a late 80's / early 90's edition of the tour of Britain, Malcolm Elliot managed to eliminate a whole host of riders on the prologue! That led to them changing the exclusion time.
It was basically a short hill climb TT in Aberdeen I think.

carl_p

shisaa wrote:

And yes you can get excluded from the race if you are too slow. I think it's calculated as a percentage of the stage winners time, but they sometimes overlook this if it means excluding a lot of riders. Obviously this has an effect on how far back the last group will finish, as they try and keep an eye on how far behind they are from the leaders.

Aah yes I see from above link Vandenbergh was excluded yesterday.