I, too, love the TTT.  However, the organization has rendered it all but worthless with the time loss restrictions.  It essentially became a Tour Caravan Event.  If you're CSC and you must use that much energy to only gain 1 minute on Barloworld, why bother.  If it's unfair, they should stop keeping time and just bonus everyone on finishes.

I am very sad there is no TTT in this years tour. It was always my FAVORITE stage (though the mountain-top finish stages are something to behold also!) The Blue Train days...ahh...the glory days of the TTT if there was any! Look up TTT tactics and procedures in a cycling manual and you will see a picture of US Postal w/ Lance in the lead...they wrote the book on it so much that the TDF had to change the rules! Now that the era of Lance is gone, they should go BACK to their original TTT w/ no time loss restrictions. Are you listening TDF??

Yeah, this is a disappointment.  It's such a different event, and it's something that you just don't get to see without following cyclists around the country in person.  Too much of the Tour is focused on the Yellow Jersey leaders, at least in the U.S.  The TTT lets you see a different aspect of the sport, and really emphasises the team aspect more than anything else.  For once, it's a chance for the workhorses to get some well-deserved camera time.

Poetry in motion.  Fast motion.  What's not to like?

I love the TTT but I'm also sad there is no mountain time trial this year - a real test of the riders mettle. Maybe unfair on the others but then again, anyone can ride along in the peleton on the flat for 3 weeks. The mountains are what make the tour.