02/03/2023

"It’s a team time trial that isn’t a team time trial" - Pogacar & UAE strategizing for novel TTT at Paris-Nice

With Tadej Pogacar seemingly on a mission to pick up as many wins as possible this year, one thing that could prove decisive for overall victory at Paris-Nice is the novel TTT format introduced this year. Something UAE Team Emirates are trying to strategize.

“We are dedicating a lot of time specifically to working on this TTT. It changes a lot, right down to the actual line-up we’re taking to the race,” says UAE Team Emirates manager Joxean Fernández Matxin to Cycling News. "It’s a team time trial that isn’t a team time trial. It reminds me of one that they had in a Girobio where the teams started in the order of the individual ranking. I’m not saying anything more about that one, except it hasn’t happened again!”

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What makes the team time trial at this years Paris-Nice stand out so much then? Well, instead of the time being taken after the fourth or fifth rider crosses the line like in most TTT's, the Race to the Sun has opted for a format where the teams time will be taken as soon as their first rider crosses the finish line. This in theory, allows teams to ride harder and sacrifice more riders during the course.

"Having times taken on the first rider when they cross the line means we have to go there with just one leader in mind," says Matxin. “It affects the overall coordination of the group, and the balance between aerodynamics and power output to keep the overall speed as consistent as possible when it comes to the order of the riders in the line. That’s particularly true in the final part of the TTT where you’re trying to ensure that the last rider for that last kilometre gets there as fresh as possible, just like in a ‘normal’ individual time trial. You have to minimize his efforts in the first part of the time trial, to be sure that in the last part, he can maximize them. The other riders, meanwhile, will have to race in such a way that they complete their efforts earlier in the TTT.”