Originally Posted by
burnthesheep
None of the recumbents broke an hour in the 40k at the USAC regionals TT and there were a lot of podium spots of TT bikes several several minutes faster than the winning 40k recumbent time. And one the recumbent bikes was one of those all carbon fairing "racer" recumbents also.
Just like the original question, there's a whole lot of "it depends". So, despite the massive aero advantage a recumbent still needs the aerobic engine of the rider. And it's not really the point of this topic.
As for the original question, most pros could draft a TT bike no problem. Their road bike fits are pretty aggressive and they all have massive aerobic engines. As for a TTT on road bikes versus an ITT with a TT bike, I put the numbers for a flat ITT into aeroweenie and the road bike CdA would need whoever is pulling in the TTT to be putting out 650w versus the ITT rider doing "just" 450w for 54kph. I got the 54kph from a road bike only TTT that happened in a UCI 2.2 race for a team I follow. They did 54kph for like only 2km.
So pro TTT versus pro ITT.........ITT rider wins.
For amateurs drafting the TT bike, I've had my teammates try before. We started with 4 tagalongs. After about 10min we lost two. The other two held on another 10min or so. Then I was mean and dropped them when I went into VO2 power for a couple minutes.
As for pros wheelsucking a TT bike, they can do that no problem. Amateurs? Usually as an amateur rider you're either a TT aerobic engine rider, or you're not. If you don't own a TT bike or don't Merckx TT race, you actually likely won't be able to wheelsuck for a whole 40k. Unless the TT rider is a really "big boy".
I let our A+ ride leave 5min early once and I rode the TT bike behind, not expecting to catch anyone. I caught all of the dropped riders, just not the 4 person break. A few were not in the mood to ride home in solitude so grabbed a wheel. They held wheel for about 15 or 20min with me going at threshold.
The Notio routinely has my CdA from about .197 to .205 lately. My teammates on road bikes are easily over .300, probably .320 or so.
I don't know anything about your local race but the video OP posted showed 45km/h. On the type of road shown in the video, that would be barely tempo on my bent. In reality, there are very few recumbent racers out there. A few years ago at the UMCA 102 mile Nat Championship, four of us bents broke away and put 12 or 14 minutes on the pack of about 80 in just over 30 miles. My bent CdA is 0.140-145 and with an FTP of 312, you can do the math.
Also, the question of whether a pro team could beat a TT champ isn't really answered but I think a top pro team of 8 would destroy a TT racer. I.m not going to model CdA of the riders in a paceline or time of pulls to maximize speed, so, just my belief.