Basically the guys out front set the pace and form a wind block for the riders behind to draft off. Teams do the same thing for their star rider, they ride out front, set the pace, etc. A strong team is huge in the team time trials, the teams time is only as good as the last member to cross the finish line. Lower team members will also give up their bike to the featured rider if he has mechanical problems or a flat.
hp - correct, it's the 5th member. BTW - whoever mentioned Telekom means Team Bianchi; they were the ones at the front. Telekom is Ullrich's old team, and Vinokourov (on the Telekom squad) has not sent his team to the front like that this year.
You got it HP here are the rules: A r t i c l e 2 4 - TEAM time trial stages In team time trial stages, riders start at 5' intervals in the reverse order of the general team classification following stage # 3. The team classification of the stage is based on the time recorded by the rider who finishes in 5th position (with a precision of 1/100 of a second). An identical time is granted to all the team members who record this time or a lower time. For the individual general classification, the times are recorded as follows: - the time of the 5th rider in each team for riders who qualify for this as stipulated above; - the actual times of laggards with a maximum limit of 7' relative to the first team's "scratch" time. The lag of teams that finish more than 7' after the first team (the "scratch" time) is limited to 7' in the individual general classification. However, riders who finish later than the time limits set by the regulations (coefficient 6) are eliminated. http://www.letour.fr/2002/us/reglement.html
