Individual time trial

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The individual time trial (abbr. EZF , English individual time trial , shortly ITT , French contre la montre individual , short CLM ) is a discipline of road cycling , in which the competing drivers do not start together, but alone "against the clock" ( contre la montre ) and the positions of the drivers result from the order of the lowest travel time.

Special cases of the individual time trial are the prologue and the mountain time trial . In the case of time trials that are contested in teams, on the other hand, one speaks of team time trials . Drivers who are particularly suitable for time trial competitions are often referred to as time trial specialists .

Regulations

Starting ramp for the individual time trial in the Tour de France

Individual time trials are held as one-day races or as part of stage races over a maximum distance of 80 kilometers for men or 40 kilometers for women. The drafting is prohibited. If a driver overtakes the driver who started before him, the drivers are not allowed to support each other. A violation is punished with time penalties and can lead to disqualification .

Important individual time trials

An individual time trial was held for the first time in 1934 in the Tour de France . A world champion has been determined in the individual time trial since the World Championships in 1994 , and the individual time trial became Olympic two years later . The prestigious Grand Prix des Nations was previously considered the unofficial time trial world championship. The German champion in the individual time trial is also determined annually at the German road cycling championships .

Mountain time trial

Profile of the 15.5 km mountain time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez

The mountain time trial ( BZF , English: hill climb time trial ) is a special discipline of the individual time trial . Most of the time, a relatively short distance is traveled, which, however, is almost always provided with high gradient percentages. The goal is not - as is usually the case with the flat time trials - at the level of the start, so these routes do not contain any descents. In some cases, however, they contain short flat pieces. There were big mountain time trials, for example. B. at the 16th stage of the Tour de France 2004 from Le Bourg-d'Oisans to L'Alpe d'Huez and at the Dauphiné Libéré 2004, when the Mont Ventoux was climbed.

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