Team Time Trial

[Jasper the surreal cyclist]

OK how good would it be if the team time trial was an Olympic Sport? National teams going head to head with no tickets required. It would be so cool ...

[Exit Stage Left]

The last time a TTT formed part of the Olympics was 1988 in Seoul when the East Germans won, with a team of Jan Schur, Uwe Ampler, Mario Kummer, and Maik Landsmann.

[andygates]

And it was super cool.

[mattc]

I find the team pursuit a better event than the TTT. The latter really only has any purpose in a stage race (and they can distort the overall results if mishandled)

[Exit Stage Left]

The function of any race design is to distort the result. Otherwise every race would stick together until the final sprint. All the great races have gimmicks in them.

The Olympic 100km TTT gave birth to  the Cipo trains, the Italians selected crack squads of huge testers who had 'amateur' status until TTTs were dropped from competition, and they were forced to seek employment leading out 'The Lion King'.

We see an echo of the days of TTTs whenever a team takes charge at the end of a flat stage. That's the most inspiring sight possible for a fantasy rouleur such as myself.

[citoyen]

I find the team pursuit a better event than the TTT. The latter really only has any purpose in a stage race (and they can distort the overall results if mishandled)

Imagine a nine-man team pursuit. That would be an awesome sight.

Agree with ESL re the lead-out trains. It's a joy to behold a well-formed echelon in matching kit driving the peloton at breakneck speed in the final kilometres of a TdF stage.

d.

[Exit Stage Left]

The heyday of the lead outs was of course the Saeco Red Train. But it had its roots in the Mercatone Uno manifestation of the same team. A key figure was Eros Poli, who had won Gold medals in the Olympics and Worlds in the 100 mile TTT.
A fascinating aspect of that team was that their leader never made it to the second week, so the lead-out men were free to work for the highest bidder. Poli was the driver of the Autobus, the group of sprinters and other lead out men who would sneak home within the cut-off time in the mountains. This made him enormously popular in the peleton.
If your team ever found itself with a rider adrift you could pay Poli and the other Mercatone Uno riders to bring them back, or to chase down breaks. A certain number of them had to finish in order to maintain the team's qualification for the Tour.
The real fun is in spotting what happens to the rouleurs in the non-contending teams in the flat stages between the mountains.
Polis also won a very unlikely Tour stage.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RxTnLaH3gVA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/RxTnLaH3gVA&rel=1</a>

[Exit Stage Left]

A fit of nostalgia led me to look at the 1994 Mercatone Uno team. It featured Silvio Martinello. Silvio Martinello - Rider Statistics Tour de France - By: CyclingFever.com - The International Cycling Social Network
He was about six foot nine, weighed fourteen and a half stone and even finished the Tour in 1999, coming fourth on the Champs Elysee.
The TTT squads were where big athletic Italians ended up, rather than rowing or Rugby.

[Exit Stage Left]

A further trawl through the points competition shows that Martinello came second in 1994, as he was the last man to lead out Cipo, so accumulated lots of points.
Tour de France 1994

[Mr Larrington]

Agree with ESL re the lead-out trains. It's a joy to behold a well-formed echelon in matching kit driving the peloton at breakneck speed in the final kilometres of a TdF stage.

So, almost, but not quite, entirely unlike HTC - Highroad yesterday

[citoyen]

Did you see the look on Tony Martin's face when he found himself at the front of the train still with however many km it was to go? He knew then that they'd cocked it up.

d.

[Exit Stage Left]

I think Bernie Eisel's breakfast interview might have been a short-lived feature.
VIDEO: Breakfast with Bernie Eisel, stage 3
Interesting that Bernie was the HTC sprinter before Cav, and is his room mate.

[David Martin]

I think Bernie Eisel's breakfast interview might have been a short-lived feature.
VIDEO: Breakfast with Bernie Eisel, stage 3
Interesting that Bernie was the HTC sprinter before Cav, and is his room mate.

His accent is quite strange - german australian english..

[fuzzy]

The heyday of the lead outs was of course the Saeco Red Train. But it had its roots in the Mercatone Uno manifestation of the same team. A key figure was Eros Poli, who had won Gold medals in the Olympics and Worlds in the 100 mile TTT.
A fascinating aspect of that team was that their leader never made it to the second week, so the lead-out men were free to work for the highest bidder. Poli was the driver of the Autobus, the group of sprinters and other lead out men who would sneak home within the cut-off time in the mountains. This made him enormously popular in the peleton.
If your team ever found itself with a rider adrift you could pay Poli and the other Mercatone Uno riders to bring them back, or to chase down breaks. A certain number of them had to finish in order to maintain the team's qualification for the Tour.
The real fun is in spotting what happens to the rouleurs in the non-contending teams in the flat stages between the mountains.
Polis also won a very unlikely Tour stage.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RxTnLaH3gVA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/RxTnLaH3gVA&rel=1</a>

I seem to recall that Fassa Bortolo had a damn good train for Petacchi. Didn't Paul and Phil refer to it as the Fassa Silver Train or something?

[Exit Stage Left]

The heyday of the lead outs was of course the Saeco Red Train. But it had its roots in the Mercatone Uno manifestation of the same team. A key figure was Eros Poli, who had won Gold medals in the Olympics and Worlds in the 100 mile TTT.
A fascinating aspect of that team was that their leader never made it to the second week, so the lead-out men were free to work for the highest bidder. Poli was the driver of the Autobus, the group of sprinters and other lead out men who would sneak home within the cut-off time in the mountains. This made him enormously popular in the peleton.
If your team ever found itself with a rider adrift you could pay Poli and the other Mercatone Uno riders to bring them back, or to chase down breaks. A certain number of them had to finish in order to maintain the team's qualification for the Tour.
The real fun is in spotting what happens to the rouleurs in the non-contending teams in the flat stages between the mountains.
Polis also won a very unlikely Tour stage.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RxTnLaH3gVA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/RxTnLaH3gVA&rel=1</a>

I seem to recall that Fassa Bortolo had a damn good train for Petacchi. Didn't Paul and Phil refer to it as the Fassa Silver Train or something?

Obviously, having Fabian Cancellara in the train is always useful.

[Rich753]

Talking to Roger Hammond we were saying how much we enjoyed watching the TTT, what a great spectacle it was.  He sighed and said something like "yes, you spectators seem to like all the bits of cycling we pros hate - the TTT is really dangerous, we never get time to practice properly, on the limit all the time, any little mistake you either crash or get dropped, it's no fun at all!"

[andygates]

That's exactly what makes it so good to watch!

[Rich753]

That's exactly what makes it so good to watch!

Which is why we really didn't have much sympathy for him