Cycling Time Trials Introduces New Category for Road Bike Time-Trialling to Improve Accessibility and Inclusivity

Cycling Time Trials (CTT) has announced a significant new website feature that will integrate road bikes into all events, while separating them into their own category in the results. The new feature will enable riders who choose a standard road bike with drop handlebars and spoked wheels to enter any event in the CTT calendar, indicating which type of bike they will be riding. Afterwards, results will be easily filterable by bike type on the CTT website, as well as into men’s and women’s results and age groups.

CTT’s Spindata rankings system, which previously did not take account of the type of bike ridden, will now separate road bike performances from those set on TT bikes and publish distinct road bike rankings. To be included in Spindata’s road bike rankings, a rider will need just three road bike rides.

Andrea Parish, CTT Chair, said: “Recognising road bikes as their own category is all about improving accessibility and making time trialling available to everybody. Having a separate road bike competition and rankings system is very much part of the process of taking time trialling back to the ‘every person’s sport’ that it once was – and to where it needs to be for the future.”

As of April 18th 2023, all CTT time trial events will recognise road bikes as a distinct category of racing, with results presented on the CTT website filterable to show the road bike results within each event. Team time trial results can be filtered to show teams where riders were all competing on road bikes.

The rise in road bike participation in time trials has increased steadily since the 2000s, when it was estimated to be close to zero, equating to a rise of over 1,000% based on road-bike-only events. CTT’s new website functionality aims to cater to the growing number of riders who want to participate in time trials on their road bikes without needing to purchase specialist equipment.

Parish concluded: “We know there’s already a big appetite for road bikes. In a rider survey last year the message came back very strongly that people wanted to ride road bikes and they wanted a separate competition. So now we’re able to give our ‘customers’ what they want as well as attracting new ones who won’t feel as though they need to spend a large amount of money on specialist equipment. If you have a road bike, even if it cost £150 off Ebay, you can enter an open event. The whole thing is about giving people an opportunity. You’ve got a road bike, so time trial.”