On the Time Elimination of Cannondale Rider Ted King after stage 4 of the Tour De France:

I was surprised to hear what a fuss was being made over Cannondale’s Ted King being eliminated from the Tour De France after finishing outside the time limit on the stage 4 team time trial. Yes, it is terribly unfortunate for a rider who has worked and trained very hard to be sent home, but those are the rules. Every rider and team knows the rules and all are expected to follow them. Of course, that presupposes that the referees will enforce the rules fairly and equally.

Ted King after race elimination following stage 4 TTT

During NBC Sports’ stage 5 pre-race show, in typical colorful fashion, Bob Roll described the Tour de France stage time limits as “…a blood meridian running through the Tour,” and, “…a bad spirit that haunts your dreams.” In other words, the time limit is a threatening specter looming over the peloton, reminding the riders that they are engaged in the highest level of competition and must give their all to show their worth. After all, why should someone who is not in top form be permitted to contest a race with the best cyclists in the world?

The “bad spirit” haunted Ted King’s race. He injured his shoulder in stage 1, and then got eliminated from the race in stage 4. The fact that his parents are flying out to watch him race, and the Twitter frenzy that saw several pro cyclists lobbying for King’s cause, should not bear on the case. The only issue is whether or not the race referees are going to apply the rules strictly to all riders all the time. In the past we have seen them make exceptions under certain circumstances. For instance, during stage 18 of the 2011 TDF a large group of over 80 riders in the grupetto who finished outside the time limit were all allowed to start the next day, to avoid the mass elimination. On the next stage over 80 riders again finished outside the time limit, and the race referees decided again not to enforce the elimination. Several top sprinters and stars were in those groups. So, a double standard does seem to exist in the enforcement of rules in the Tour De France, and it worked against King. The rules are just flexible enough to favor the big stars that the fans want to watch.

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The worst part about the Ted King elimination is that he was only outside the finish window by seven seconds. And yesterday’s TTT was the fastest ever in Tour history. Another fact I consider is that King (no offense, man) is not a rider who was going to have a big impact on this year’s race. He is too green. He is not a powerful climber or a super-fast sprinter, but his loss does handicap his team a little. It is doubly unfortunate for the Cannondale rider then, because cyclists need to put those thousands of kilometers of racing into their legs to build their form for the future. Hopefully the blogger and Pro-Tour cyclist, Ted King, will be back next year to show the Tour De France why he belongs there. For emotional reasons, I would have liked to see the New Hampshire native continue riding, but what would be preferable is equal and exact application of the rules for all riders, all the time.