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Lapping the field in a crit
Thu, 03/15/2012 - 10:58pm
What happens if you lap the field in a crit and reintegrate into the pack?
Are you still up a lap, or would you have to win the pack sprint?
What if you drop out of the lapped pack after a few laps, are you still up a lap?
GFM is correct.
If a rider or riders laps the field, they are a lap up on the peleton. At the finish, riders a lap up would compete against one another for the win, with the peleton competing for the next available position. For example, four riders lap the field and reintegrate with it, by the finish one has fallen off the back but is still ahead of the pack - at the finish those three remaining "lappers" compete for 1st-3rd, the gal off the back is 4th, and the peleton is sprinting for 5th place and so on.
As with any criterium, all finish on the same lap as the leader - so in the above case, when the leaders are sprinting for the win, the peleton is sprinting for 5th, 6th, etc.
Note that once the "lappers" are re-integrated with the pack, primes may be awarded to the first person across the line. Exceptions to this may include Stage Race Primes that are time bonuses. Finish time bonuses are awarded for places, so in the example above the best the peleton could earn would be bonuses for 5th place and so on.
Tim
A day that I'm on the bike is a good day.
Eight riders in the P1/2 field during a 2011 Superweek race DID lap the field! (This happens frequently in track racing, less so in criteriums.) Those eight riders were the leaders and would have to sprint against each other if none of them broke away again. (It often happens that one or more of those riders will attack again). If someone from that group fell off the back and remained in "no man's land" he would still be ahead of the peleton, but not his breakaway companions. If he got reabsorbed by the pack, he'd have to sprint to maintain 8th place.