Ted King DQ – 2013 Tour de France Commentary

July 3, 2013

If you watch cycling, and specifically the Tour de France, you at least have a rudimentary understanding of what goes on within the race. But one rule you usually only see enforced on the big mountain stages later in the race knocked American Ted King out of the TDF yesterday.

In the 25KM Team Time Trial in Nice, King fell back from his teammates and crossed the finish line about seven seconds behind the Cannondale team. Well, seven seconds was reportedly just slower than the 25% window in which he was supposed to finish. The rule meant that if King dropped behind his teammates and crossed the line too late, he’d be disqualified.

It happened. He’s out and people aren’t happy. In fact, this story in Velo News covers the whole story in-depth.

What’s your take? Should there be time limits? Should everyone get a trophy, like in grade schools and town sports in middle America? I say if he missed the deadline, he’s out. A deadline is a deadline. Sorry Ted. Maybe next year.