NH : Tour de France question

Can any cycling experts explain how the individual standings are worked out in the tour? Is it just based on the rider's total time added over all stages?

Evans has maintained a 1 second lead over Schleck for each of the past four stages. So, if it is based on total time, that would suggest the two of them covered each of these four stages in exactly the same time - which seems highly unlikely.

Any explanations?

Topic #16520 | Report this topic

bike rack
Years ago

apparently when the mai group crosses the line the same time counts for all of them. the guy at the front gets the same time as the guy at the back of the pellaton

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Brian Griffin
Years ago

Thanks bike rack.

That explains why the 1 second lead did not change but I guess it raises a new question ... how do they decide where the main group starts? I suppose there is some formula based on separation of the riders etc. I'll check it out for myself.

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nutter
Years ago

Its generally pretty obvious where the main group starts. I could be wrong but if the pelaton splits in two then each of those two groups would get the same time. They also don't use tenths or hundrends of seconds so riders can cover a whole lot of time in one second so a rider could be ten metres away from a rider and still get the same time.

Another interesting fact is that on certain stages your time from the leader is recorded with 3 km to go and if there is a crash between the 3km point and the finish you get the time that was recorded at the 3km point not what you end up getting.

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Speed44
Years ago

Basically, if the "main group" has no separation between the cyclists, then they all get the same time. If there is a gap then the real-time seconds will apply. The bunch sprints at the end of the stages really don't affect the overall standings, as the sprinters are usually minutes if not hours behind the main contenders. So guys like Robbie McEwen and Mark Cavendish, even if they street the field in the final sprint, those 3 or 4 seconds have no bearing on Evans or Schleck.

And yeah, Nutter is right, if the peloton, splits in two, as it did a couple of nights back, when they chased the breakaway, then the 2 groups, get the times of the first rider across the line in each group.

Schleck has no intention of passing Evans right now anyway, he'll wait for the Alps to make his move. His team is quite happy to let Evans' team stress about breakaways etc, while Schleck will happily sit on Evans' back wheel, as you have seen him do the last couple of nights on the flat stages.

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Oden08
Years ago

I'm not a cycling expert but Schleck isn't the biggest concern is he? Aren't Evans' team more worried about Sastre and Menchov?

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Speed44
Years ago

Oh absolutely they are worried about Sastre and especially Menchov, who's been particularly quiet so far, maybe saving his energy for the alps. But Schleck showed in the Pyrenees that he is up for this race, and being only a second down, his team will work for him, and his team is 10 times better than Evans'. Sastre may even be riding for his teammate Schleck in the Alps, should be interesting to see their tactics over the next 3 or 4 days.

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NH : Tour de France question

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