Why is Cadel Evans considered to be a great Time trial rider compared to normal Tour de france stages?
December 31, 2009
The commentaters say Evans will most likely win or lose the race in that time trial.
Any insight would be great as I have enjoyed watching the tour de france!
Most of the riders in the Tour have a speciality and many of them are very weak in some disciplines.
Sastre is a pure climber not good in the time trial that is why although he has a 1:34 lead it is probably not enough to beat Evans in the TT and win the overall.
Evans’ speciality is the time trial (TT). He is also an excellant climber. Good enough to stay with the leaders in the mountains and capable of wiping most of them out in the TT.
Evans has the physiology that makes him time trial faster than "pure climbers" like Sastre or Frank Schleck. In the stage 4 time trial, he placed fourth, over two minutes faster than Schleck. The upcoming time trial is longer, so the gaps could be larger. So, if Sastre or Schleck were only two minutes ahead of Evans, he could make up that time on the time trial.
References :
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/tour08/?id=results/tour084
Most of the riders in the Tour have a speciality and many of them are very weak in some disciplines.
Sastre is a pure climber not good in the time trial that is why although he has a 1:34 lead it is probably not enough to beat Evans in the TT and win the overall.
Evans’ speciality is the time trial (TT). He is also an excellant climber. Good enough to stay with the leaders in the mountains and capable of wiping most of them out in the TT.
References :
every rider like any athlete has his strengths and weaknesses. when i raced i was a time trial specialist. give me a course and let me ride it my way, and i will hurt you. yet, i struggle in other races because i have trouble matching other rider’s moves, and i wasnt a very good climber because i was big. big guys typically dont climb as well. there is a difference between time trialing and other stuff, because it is you alone against the clock. you can pick when you need to push and when you need to recover. you can ride your own ride much more than in other types of racing.
References :
time trials are an individual effort. it means you are on your own. as opposed to the stages when a team can carry their fastest sprinter the the finish line and let him go for it.
References :