So what was the reason for elminating the team time trial in the tour de france?

Question

was it to protect the overall contenders from losing a place if theyre team is poor?

because afterall the tour is a team bike race also. i mean the best/winning team gets their sponsors name out there better.

Answer 1

I'm not sure of the exact reason - suspect the organisers wanted to change the format around a bit. However, the team time trial really rewards yellow jersey contenders who also have a strong team, thus taking the emphasis away from individual effort. e.g. Lance did very well for a number of years by having a great time trial team.

By getting rid of it, it opens the tour out and puts the onus back onto the individuals to attack, as opposed to rely on the TTT to get an advantage.

It's a good thing in my book.

Answer 2

some years they have the team TT, some years they don't. this is the first year in a very long stretch that they didn't have the prologue TT though. and this years tour could see a non-sprinter in green. no time bonuses for stage wins either. it's a very different course, with some interesting rules changes to go with it.

Answer 3

they have said from the start that they wanted to return to the race's roots.  they wanted this tour to be more like it used to be when it first started, and in the early years they didnt do a prologue or team time trial.