So far, this Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has had almost everything. Sprint days, punchy finishes, some gravel and mountains to come. But there’s one key discipline missing: a time trial.
For the time trial specialists in the peloton, this has been a source of disappointment in what is meant to be a race that tests riders across all disciplines, and many have called for its inclusion in future editions.
Ellen van Dijk, the time trial world champion, told Cyclingnews that whilst she personally wants to race her favourite discipline at the Tour, it’s also a key element of a stage race.
“As a time trialist, of course I want one,” she said before the race. “But also I think everyone can agree that normally big tours have a time trial, and we don’t have it – not in the Vuelta, not in the Giro, not in the Tour, not in almost any WorldTour race.”
The lack of time trials has been a cause for concern for the specialists throughout the season. There are just two ITTs in the WorldTour this year, one being a prologue at the Giro and the other a 17.8km stage at the Simac Tour.
In June, Van Dijk put out a message about this gap in the calendar, co-signed by Joss Lowden, Marlen Reusser, Lisa Brennauer and Annemiek van Vleuten.
“We started something on Twitter to ask for some attention for it, because I think it’s not really normal that there’s no WorldTour race with a real time trial,” Van Dijk said. “It would be great if organisers can put some attention into that.”
This year the Women’s World Tour is desperately short of Time Trials, one of the major and much loved disciplines of the sport.The prologue of @giro_donne today is the only Individual Time Trial 2022. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/NH7ACxblo2June 30, 2022
Though some may argue that the inclusion of a time time may have a skewed effect on the GC, benefitting riders like Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) and Demi Vollering (SD Worx) more than the weaker time trialists, Van Dijk says it should be part of the overall challenge.
“I feel like if you want to have a complete GC and stage for everyone, it belongs in a Tour,” she said. “You have sprint stages, you have medium stages, you have mountain stages, and time trials normally. When you want to have a full picture, it has to be part of it.”
Former World Hour record holder Joss Lowden (Uno-X Procycling) also expressed her disappointment at the lack of an against the clock challenge at the Tour, but it’s something she hopes for in…
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