TT vs. Road Racing

gobluebrett said:

It seems to me that if someone would be good at Time Trialing that they would also be a very good road racer, and vice versa. But this isn't generally the case. Why is this? I guess that I've always wondered why some cyclists are only good at one particular thing. Thanks.

Brett

A time trialer is usually the bigger (relatively speaking) guy with lots of power so they may not be that great of a climber.
Sometimes a good time trialer doesn't have that burst to get away from the field so he just drags people with him (you save 30% of your energy by drafting.)
For flat stages, being a good time trialer doesn't mean that you can sprint well. So the guy who is a good sprinter stays with the pack until the last few kilometers, works his way up the peloton and does his sprinting thing to win the race. Time trialing is an individual discipline were you are by yourself. For sprinting you have to be aggressive and be willing to bounce around a bit calling for good bike handling skills.
In club racing a good time trialer can just power away from the field. In the pro ranks there are too many good riders just to power away.

Thank you very much. I was just curious as to the way that this works. So basically what you are saying is that Time Trialers are better individually but in a pack they aren't as strong? Sorry if I am being a nuisance, but I was just thinking that a person who is really strong at TTing would just be able to leave everybody in a road race, but I guess that it doesn't work that way. Once again, thank you.

Brett

gobluebrett said:

Thank you very much. I was just curious as to the way that this works. So basically what you are saying is that Time Trialers are better individually but in a pack they aren't as strong? Sorry if I am being a nuisance, but I was just thinking that a person who is really strong at TTing would just be able to leave everybody in a road race, but I guess that it doesn't work that way. Once again, thank you.

Brett

Of course there are riders who are very strong, who excell at road races and time trials. Time trials are very individual events so it takes a different mind set. In a road race you always know exactly were you stand, also a road race is a lot of speeding up and slowing down much different than a time trial were you try and maintian the same effort the whole race. In some ways it comes down to pyschology. A good road racer seems to be able to dig deeper for shorter periods of time in able to stay with the lead group. While a good time trialer is able to sustain an effort for a long time that is right on the edge of being anaerobic. Also with the whole drafting thing you have to put out more than 30% more power just to get someone off of your wheel.

Thank you. Now i understand.

Brett

gobluebrett said:

Thank you. Now i understand.

Brett

Mass start road races are entirely different than an "individual Time trial effort".

Being a strong TTer is never a disadvantage in a RR, neither is it a guarantee of victory.

However, pacing, tempo changes, tactics and some luck, and probably a strong sprint are required to win a road race.

Getting rid of your competition slowly as the race progresses should be the objective of a good ITTer.

Then make a solo move at a suitable point at 10 kilometers to go for example.

Sound judgment and awareness of your competitors strength and weaknesses will influence your tactics.

In the end, if a large-sized group gets to 500 meters to go, the faster sprinters will win.

(typically)A good tt-er will go for the early breakaway due to the fact that tt-guy cant finish with the pack best sprinters.

(typically)A dedicated sprinter has more fast twitch muscles developed so cannot go solo the distance as hard, in comarison with a 40k itt vet.
UNless you put a road sprinter on a velodrome 500m tt he wont (typically) be
as fast as a 40k itt guy.
off course there are some minor exceptions to these examples.