Quoted message said:That uni-ball must be quite a site in the mirror.
One word. Prosthesis.
But beyond that...
The TTT is a beautiful event. But let's look at it analytically rather than emotionally.
This is not just a paceline. It is a complex, 9 way equation where the goal is to maximize the speed
of the 5th strongest rider. There are constraints that no more than 4 inputs can go to zero and that
certain riders can not be among the 4. I will leave the masturbatory number crunching perl code to
Conellly since that's his gig. But it's not easy.
Next time you're on one of those rip-each-other's- legs-off rides, add a no-drop constraint. Now
maximize speed. It's way different. That's why some observant rbr readers time the pulls. There is
information there about the variables to the equation. If LANCE was doing shorter pulls than other
Posties you can bet that every rider on the line knew it before the stage to Alpe d'Huez.
Let's look at it from an economic standpoint. What happens if the TTT is removed. Among support
riders the value of flat land workhorses drops, and the value of mountain goats rises. Slava isn't
riding for Postal anymore, he signs with a TT3 team like JFJs and spend July riding crits in
Milwaukee during Superweek instead of the Tour.
So that money that Johan is currently sending to Ekimov goes to a climber instead. And where does
Johan find a climber? Does he look for some dirt poor, rail thin Spaniard and do another Heras-like
move? You bet he does. There is some quality guy riding in opposition to LANCE instead of in support
of him, because of the TTT. And it isn't just Postal that does this. Every team with money and GC
aspirations does it.
The well funded teams would still have a huge advantage. An additional climber in a mountain stage
might not count for as much time as a workhorse in a TTT, but that advantage is played out over more
stages. The only thing that would change is that teams would be more specialized and less well
rounded. This is not a good thing.
The TTT is a beautiful event. You guys that don't like it should start timing pulls. There is
information there that you are missing.
Bob Schwartz [email hidden]