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2009 Giro D’Italia Venice Time Trial
By spokesman | February 5, 2009
The first stage of the 2009 Giro D’Italia will be a time time trial. The team time trial is a unique stage and typically not included in the Grand Tours. The Giro has not included one in many years and the Tour De France includes one every three or four years. It is a strange selection for a first stage.
There are two ways to assign finish times on the team time trial. Each member of the team can be given the actual finishing time of the team. Alternatively the teams can be ranked based on their finish time with the first team getting their actual time and each successive team is given that time plus 10 seconds for each place behind the first team. This ranking method would benefit the weaker teams. This was the approach that was used the last time the Tour De France that had a team time trial several years ago. In that race, it benefited most of the teams because Lance Armstrong’s strong team was not able to open a big lead based on the time trial.
The time trial in the Tour of Italy will use actual finishing times. Given that it is a flat course and the total length is only 20.5km, the teams will be fairly close together. Additionally since it is the first stage, the teams will not go all out. There are many more milese to go. Since it is the first stage, the winning team occupy all of the top spots in the general classification. Nevertheless, it will be a fun stage to watch.
The Giro organizers started the race in Venice because that was the site of the first Giro stage 100 years ago. The combination of Venice’s beauty, the anniversary of the Giro and the return of Lance Armstrong will make Venice a popular destination for this stage. If you plan to go, you better get a hotel soon. Here is a link to a site a good website that provides information on luxury hotels in Venice and sight seeing. If you go to the Giro, please e-mail me. I would be glad to publish some of your pictures on the blog to share with other readers.
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Topics: Italy, Professional Racing |
February 6th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
[…] 2009 Giro D’Italia bVenice/b Time Trial | BicycleSpokesman.com […]
February 20th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I’m heading to the Giro and will spend the entire month of May in Italy. Where should I send the pictures? I already got a bike case and can’t believe Air France is charging $150 one-way. I heard it used to be free. On the way back I’m taking Continental and they only charge $100.
Have a great trip. You can send the photos to photos@bicyclespokesman.com I will glad to share them with the readers on the site.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I too will bw there in Venice this weekend. Can you tell me the detailed time schedule for the time trial this weekend.
September 24th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Very nice site!