The organisers of Paris-Good have made a delicate change to the principles for the staff time trial, with Tuesday’s 32.7-kilometre check in Dampierre-en-Burly being timed on the primary rider of a staff to cross the end line, slightly than the fourth, as is conventional.
The supposed impact is to keep away from one other scenario the place a staff stacks the highest of the final classification, as Jumbo-Visma did in 2022 with Wout van Aert, Primož Roglič and Christophe Laporte monopolizing the highest 10 after the person time trial.
Not having to maintain at the very least 4 riders collectively means each staff should go into the stage with a delegated chief and a transparent technique for how you can maximize their effort.
The format has obtained a blended reception from the riders, with UAE Staff Emirates placing in further effort even when supervisor Joxean Fernández Matxin informed Cyclingnews that the staff have devoted quite a lot of time to planning for the stage and attempting to get Tadej Pogačar in place to win Paris-Good.
That included choosing a staff round one chief, Pogačar, and balancing aerodynamics and energy output to ship a gentle effort.
“It’s important to reduce his efforts within the first a part of the time trial, to ensure that within the final half, he can maximize them. The opposite riders, in the meantime, should race in such a means that they full their efforts earlier within the TTT,” Matxin mentioned.
Whereas UAE Staff Emirates have adjusted their technique, Rohan Dennis informed CyclingPro.web that his Jumbo-Visma staff are staying the course.
“We’re simply going to do it as we all the time do. We have an excellent staff, however we will not relaxation on that. We have to fake we’re not that good on paper and it is not a given we’ll win.”
In the meantime, Groupama-FDJ’s time trial engine Stefan Küng mentioned he is not a fan of the brand new format, saying “you begin the race as a staff, you end the race as a staff”.
“I believe they’re imagining it is gonna be one thing loopy particular like they imagined just a few years in the past with the grid begin within the Pyrenees stage, and in the long run, it will likely be all the identical situation as soon as once more.”
Küng additionally instructed the staff would use the everyday technique for a staff time trial: “We’ll attempt to keep collectively so long as potential anyway as a result of that is the way you go as quick as potential in a staff time trial.”
Many of the race will look the identical, he mentioned, however within the final two kilometres groups would possibly come aside.
“It is like false flat downhill to a bridge then the final 300 metres is like 1% uphill so that you profit when you’re a couple of rider, so we’ll see many groups being at the very least 4 or 5 riders with 1km to go or 2km to go, then possibly everybody will do his final pull after which it may need some splits at finish, however till then we’ll see a standard staff time trial.”
Racing will get underway simply earlier than 3 p.m. CET with Lotto Dstny the primary staff down the ramp.
Pogačar – the best-placed total contender within the Paris-Good standings after taking 12 seconds in time bonuses on the intermediate dash over phases 1 and a pair of – is simply two seconds off Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo). UAE Staff Emirates begin in the midst of the beginning record at 3:36 p.m. CET.
Jumbo-Visma, with chief Jonas Vingegaard, are in the identical place as the opposite favourites 14 seconds down on Pedersen and 12 on Pogačar, and launch at 3:48 p.m.
Trek-Segafredo shall be final, chasing after EF Training-EasyPost.
| Staff | Begin time |
|---|---|
| Lotto Dstny | 14:57:00 |
| Israel-Premier Tech | 15:00:00 |
| Bahrain Victorious | 15:03:00 |
| Jayco AlUla | 15:06:00 |
| Alpecin-Deceuninck | 15:09:00 |
| Ineos Grenadiers | 15:12:00 |
| Intermarché-Circus-Wanty | 15:15:00 |
| Astana Qazaqstan | 15:18:00 |
| Uno-X | 15:21:00 |
| AG2R Citroën | 15:24:00 |
| Arkéa-Samsic | 15:27:00 |
| Staff DSM | 15:30:00 |
| Bora-Hansgrohe | 15:33:00 |
| UAE Staff Emirates | 15:36:00 |
| Groupama-FDJ | 15:39:00 |
| Movistar | 15:42:00 |
| TotalEnergies | 15:45:00 |
| Jumbo-Visma | 15:48:00 |
| Cofidis | 15:51:00 |
| Soudal-Quickstep | 15:54:00 |
| EF Training-EasyPost | 15:57:00 |
| Trek-Segafredo | 16:00:00 |
