The TTT is a reletively new thing in the TdF, they've had it the last few years but didn't tend to do it much BL ( Before Lance! )

I agree - it's a shame because it's an awesome site. The TT is always the ultimate test for an individual but when they up the pressure even more and ask a whole team to perform it must be a pretty tense day in the team bus.

Despite it looking really cool though, it has tended to mess up the overall results. For example you might have a guy who is topping the GC but is a climber, like Pantani was, can't TT to save his life and doesn't have a team geared up for TTing. Even though he might be doing v.well in the overall, he could loose loads of time just because his team isn't very good at TTing.

I think it'll put the pressure back on the individual race leader contenders and take away the safety net of hoping for good TTT to try and boost a lead. After all, the TdF has always been about 2 or 3 riders battling head to head to win that lovely yellow jersey.