Riders and Rituals of the Tour de France’s “Race of Truth”

The individual time trial (ITT) is always a unique challenge for riders. Often referred to “the race of the truth”, the ITT is a nervous stage as riders are completely self-reliant in the race against the clock.

Before each start, teams and riders go through very particular rituals unique to the time trial, many of these are expected of every rider, while some can be very personal. Here are a few images of riders prior to the start of the prologue in Liege and stage 9′s 41.5 km ITT into Besancon.

Liquigas-Cannonale -Vincenzo Nibali starts his TT as the excitement of the day builds to a crescendo. ©BrakeThrough Media

: A Liquigas-Cannondale bike gets the full UCI bike inspection at the start of the TT. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank – Chris Anker Sørensen warms up on his road bike before his start

: Riders sign-on individually without dismounting for the TT just before entering the starthouse. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Peter Velits takes a momentary pause before the start of his TT at the rider sigh-on. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Omega Pharma-Quick-Step – Sylvain Chavanel – Cooling vest and ice bracelets prevent the rider from overheating

: Liquigas-Cannonale’s Vincenzo Nibali rolls off the start. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Liquigas-Cannondale’s Peter Sagan lets off a little steam seconds before his launch out of the start house. There was little pressure for a good performance from the rising Slovakian star. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Cannondale Liquigas – Peter Sagan’s Cannondale goes through the UCI bike check – it it too fast with RED? Perhaps. . ©BrakeThrough Media

: Astana – Janez Brajkovic moments before his start. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank road bikes ready for riders’ warm-up

: Cannondale Liquigas – Peter Sagan loosens up his legs before he is called to the start-house. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Omega Pharma-Quick-Step’s Sylvain Chavanel signs on before the TT starts – ©BrakeThrough Media

: AG2R-La Mondiale rider sits patiently before his TT. Early riders had 2 min gaps while the last ones had 3 min between start times. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Liquigas Cannondale – plenty of time for Ivan Basso to keep an eye on the clock. Basso would set time checks for his team leader, Vincenzo Nibali.. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Former Tour TT stage winner Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) pushes out of the start house with a massive effort – ©BrakeThrough Media

: Omega Pharma-Quick-Step – Peter Velits’ Specialized SHIV gets a once over by the UCI bike check. ©BrakeThrough Media

: Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank – Karsten Kroon warms up