Attackers climb faster

The Alternative Mountain Classification

21 July 2009

The current Mountain Classification of the Tour de France is based on a points system whereby the first one up the mountain gets the most points. This means that if less good climbers have a clear lead after the flat part before the climb they can steal points away from the real climbing specialists. This creates a misleading picture, in the opinion of the econometrists Prof. Gerard Sierksma and Bertus Talsma of the Faculty.

Today’s digital technology makes it possible to register the exact times taken in the actual climbs. Sierksma and Talsma introduced a new mountain classification based on the actual climbing times. Their King of the Mountains will be the fastest cyclist to climb all the mountains.

Most remarkable this tour is that the attackers climb faster than the peloton. In previous editions this was the other way around. Only on the Arcalis, where the finish was on top of the mountain, the big guys showed themselves. Contador climbed the fastest and gained 21 seconds on his rivals. On all other mountains the attackers climbed faster.

For example, Pellizotti and Fedrigo reached the top of the Tourmalet as first in 53 minutes and 13 seconds andclimbed one minute faster than the chasing peloton. Last year the best climbers needed only 51 minutes and 15 seconds to reach the top, keeping in mind that after that they also had to climb the Hautacam. Clearly the best riders keep themselves of side and leave the fireworks for the Alpes.

Casar is currently the number 1 of our classification. He gained most of his time on the Port d'Envaliram, where he took 2 minutes on the peloton. In the same stage Sanchez and Efimkin also took a lot of time on the peloton and are therefore the numbers 2 and 3. Martinez currently in possession of the Mountain jersey is the number 4.

Klimclassification 2009 after the Pyrenees

Rider

Country

Team

Clim bing time

Time behind

Overall

Class.

Mountain

Class.

Sandy Casar

FRA

Française des Jeux

4:16:24

Luis León Sánchez

SPA

Caisse d'Epargne

4:17:09