Team Time Trial - Tactics and Formation

Tactics and Formation

The main principle behind a TTT is that a few riders can ride at the front of the formation slightly above their aerobic threshold while others draft behind these riders. The riders then rotate, allowing some riders to recover while drafting behind fresher teammates. A rider who is riding at the front is said to be taking a pull.

Accelerations require harder efforts, and therefore it is desirable to have a smooth, steady pace. Different riders have different power outputs, lactate thresholds and aerodynamics. In order to equalize the efforts in order to not burn some riders off too early, the weaker riders take shorter pulls and stronger riders take longer pulls, all at the same speed to minimize the change in pace. A rider finishing a pull usually rotates to the very back of the formation, and the rider who was formerly behind this rider takes over. A rider who needs more time to recover may take a longer time at the back of the formation while the other teammates rotate in front of this rider. With increased desired speed, the riders take harder but shorter pulls at the front so as not to burn themselves up.

The choice of formation is crucial to the performance of the team because it dictates how fast the riders can rotate. The two most popular formations are the single paceline and double paceline. In a single paceline, riders take longer pulls. Often, a double paceline is desirable since each rider takes shorter pulls, and therefore a higher pace is able to be maintained. This is why double pacelines are more often seen at the end of a TTT event when the teams are nearing the finish line.

The recorded finishing time in a team time trial is often based on the N-th rider of that team. For example, in stage races such as the Tour de France or Giro d'Italia the finishing time is based on the 5th rider of the team, out of a total of 9 riders per team. Therefore a team may choose to have a few of its riders take a death pull towards the end of the TTT event, in which the riders take as hard a pull at the front to lift the pace at the cost of exhausting themselves with no hope of being able to latch onto the back of the formation for drafting. They then drop back and leave the remainder of the team to finish the time trial.