5.5 Tour de France Time Limits

Date:    Tue, 14 Mar 2000 00:28:53 -0800 (PST)

Below is an explanation of the time limits that are imposed on the riders
for each stage of the Tour de France.  If a rider does not finish within
the prescribed time limit, then, barring extraordinary circumstances, they
are not allowed to start the next day's stage and are eliminated from the
Tour de France(TIOOYK).  There is no time limit on for the prologue. This
information comes from the 1990 edition of the racer's bible, it may
be a bit out of date, but you get the general idea.

Each stage of the Tour falls into one of six categories:

1) flat stage
2) rolling stage
3) mountain stage
4) individual time trial
5) team time trial
6) short stage

The "short stage" category is used for stages that are short on distance
by Tour standards(<80 miles) and usually flat or rolling hills.

The important thing to note is that faster the overall average speed
of the winner, the greater the percentage of the winning time.

For flat stages the scale goes from:

	5% for less than a 34km/h average
	6% for a 34-35km/h average
	7% for a 36-37km/h average
	8% for a 38-39km/h average
	9% for a 40-41km/h average
	10% for a 42-43km/h average
	11% for a 44-45km/h average
	12% for a 46km/h average or greater

For rolling stages the scale goes from:

	6% for less than a 31km/h average
	7% for a 31km/h average
	8% for a 32km/h average
	9% for a 33km/h average
	10% for a 34km/h average
	11% for a 35km/h average
	12% for a 36km/h average
	13% for a 37km/h average or greater

For mountain stages the scale goes from:

	6% for less than a 26km/h average
	7% for a 26km/h average
	8% for a 27km/h average
	9% for a 28km/h average
	10% for a 29km/h average
	11% for a 30km/h average
	12% for a 31km/h average
	13% for a 32km/h average
	14% for a 33km/h average
	15% for a 34km/h average
	16% for a 35km/h average or greater

The individual time trial 4 has a single cut-off and that is 25% of the
winner's time.

For the team time trial the scale goes from:

	13% for less than a 42km/h average
	14% for a 42km/h average
	15% for a 43km/h average
	16% for a 44km/h average
	17% for a 45km/h average
	18% for a 46km/h average
	19% for a 47km/h average
	20% for a 48km/h average or greater

For short stages the scale goes from:

	10% for less than a 34km/h average
	11% for a 34-35km/h average
	12% for a 36-37km/h average
	13% for a 38-39km/h average
	14% for a 40-41km/h average
	15% for a 42-43km/h average
	16% for a 44-45km/h average
	17% for a 46km/h average or greater