Originally Posted by
rubiksoval
Because it doesn't make sense in the least.
You think riders are hopping on their trainers and riding for 3 hours before their time trial start? How does that make any type of sense?
They do not hop on their trainers. They do not ride for three hours. They warm up on the road. For high level guys 100km of warmup, including a soft start, finishing with 30 minutes above 50kph, takes about 2-1/2 hours.
It makes complete sense that at start of an important TT racers would want to be fully primed. For guys who race long distances every day and know the feeling of race end after a long day of work 2-1/2 hours is not a big deal. In days of yore it was different. Back when racing was seen as mostly hard physical labor and racers were working stiffs the time trial was an easy day, a short day. A few (Merckx) always did a significant warmup. Anquetil was known for longish warmups. Current fashion was mostly set by Indurain. Everyone saw how well it worked for him and followed suit. Plenty of coaches had always wanted this, advocated for this, it didn’t become standard until Big Mig gave the demonstration.
Why do you think I am or would need to make this up? This is real normal stuff and very well known.