Martin Verstrunk said:It is also used as a tie-breaker if all of the other criteria are (stage wins, placings, etc)
inconclusive.
It's strange they don't just use the fractions by default (rounding once) instead of only as a tie
breaker (round multiple times). Consider the following case:
I assume rounding is relative to stage winner time, to highest integral second less than or equal to
actual time.
Rider A time trial times: .99 seconds (round to 0) .99 seconds (round to 0) .99 seconds (round to 0)
Rider B time trial times
1.00 seconds (round to 1) .00 seconds (round to 0) .00 seconds (round to 0)
Rider A wins on GC, considering these 3 stages only, with 0 seconds, versus 1 second for rider B.
This is despite the fact the total time is
2.97 seconds, versus 1.00 for rider B.
On the other hand, if the winner of stage 1 had been 0.01 seconds faster, rider B would win (1
second to 1 second, wins on tie breaker). He benefits from someone else being faster....
Dan