wearing the
yellow jersey during a time trial at the
2023 Tour de France Femmes In a traditional individual time trial, riders set off alone (not in a group or
peloton) at intervals, typically anything from one to five minutes, and try to complete the course in as short a time as possible. In order to maximize the overall speed a time trialist must be able to maintain a steady effort throughout the event, of which the best measure is believed to be the rider's power at
lactate threshold (LT) or
aerobic threshold (AT). The best time trialists (such as
Miguel Indurain,
David Millar,
Ellen van Dijk,
Tony Martin,
Tom Dumoulin and
Fabian Cancellara), are believed to have very high power output at LT/AT, which they can then maintain for the duration of the time trials. To be a successful time trialist, a cyclist must have exceptional
aerodynamic posture and be able to take in plenty of
oxygen. Some riders who are primarily
time-trialists have also been able to compete in everything but the steepest climbs because of their good
power-to-weight ratio.
Tour de France winners
Miguel Indurain,
Jan Ullrich and
Bradley Wiggins were primarily time-trialists but were also among the best in the mountain stages during the years in which they won the Tour de France. Likewise,
Tom Dumoulin was able to win the
2017 Giro d'Italia by defending the lead he had built in the individual time trial in subsequent mountain stages. ==Famous time trialists==