By John Considine
A popular introductory economics textbook begins by identifying three principles of economics. One of those principles is equilibrium and the textbook uses the free rider problem to illustrate the principle. The free rider problem arises when there is not a clear link between individual effort and individual reward. The free rider is one who seeks to gain without contributing to the production process. Self-interest suggests that in particular circumstances individual will free ride. When everyone attempts to free ride then the product is not delivered.
One of my favourite approximations to the economics version of the free rider problem comes from a similar situation in cycling. The cyclist Rui Costa has a reputation for using the free rider strategy. As a result, others tend to avoid breakawys from the peloton involving Rui Costa. However, it sometime happens that he gets into a breakaway and successful employs the strategy for himself. A good example being a stage of the Vuelta from three years ago (YouTube video here). Costa was one of three riders who cooperated to break away from the peloton. As is normal, cooperation broke down as they approached the finish line. Cooperation turns into competition (a 2019 Journal of Economic Psychology describes it as "friends for almost a day"). The other riders knew of Costa's reputation as a free rider. Try as they might, they failed to counteract it.
Aligning individual effort and reward can be difficult in a team setting. In this post, I want to focus on a different example of the relationship between individual effort and reward. Rather than looking at a regular road stage in one of the Grand Tours, I want to look at the team time trial. Even here there are variations that have important implications for individual effort and team cohesion. The 2026 edition of the Tour De France begins with a team time trial. However, the organisers have changed the reward structure from that used in recent years.
Previously, all members of the team received the time of the fourth placed rider from that team to cross the line. Therefore, the gap between the first rider to cross the line and the fourth rider to cross the line was minimal. Beyond the fourth rider the gaps tended to increase. Many teams decided that they did not need their fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight riders to finish anywhere need the fourth rider. It might be inefficient to have anything left in the tank of the fifth rider. Therefore, some riders burnt themselves out like booster rockets. As all the members of the team got the same time then such a strategy made some sense.
Tomorrow, around the roads of Barcelona, the rewards are different. Each cyclist will get the time at which they cross the line. It should make a difference to the distribution of times by individual team members. It is unlikely that we will see the first four riders from teams finish as a group. Those teams devoted purely to getting their team leader to cross the line as quickly as possible might burn up all riders but the leader. Only the General Classification riders and those seeking the young riders jerseys are primarily focused on time. Those teams with riders targetting stage wins or those riders playing the role of domestiques might continue to sacrifice themselves for a team leader. It is hard to see any team with four riders who are attempting to minimise their time over the 21 day stages and 3,333kms.
Therefore, we can expect a wider dististribution of times for riders than previously. Those distributions will reveal the preferences of the individual teams. There will be a wider dispersion for teams focused purely on General Classification. It will be interesting to see how this experiment with the team time trial works (it has been used in other races). From Sunday it will be back to the more regular road race stages (with the exception of the individual time trial on Stage 16).
One of my favourite approximations to the economics version of the free rider problem comes from a similar situation in cycling. The cyclist Rui Costa has a reputation for using the free rider strategy. As a result, others tend to avoid breakawys from the peloton involving Rui Costa. However, it sometime happens that he gets into a breakaway and successful employs the strategy for himself. A good example being a stage of the Vuelta from three years ago (YouTube video here). Costa was one of three riders who cooperated to break away from the peloton. As is normal, cooperation broke down as they approached the finish line. Cooperation turns into competition (a 2019 Journal of Economic Psychology describes it as "friends for almost a day"). The other riders knew of Costa's reputation as a free rider. Try as they might, they failed to counteract it.
Aligning individual effort and reward can be difficult in a team setting. In this post, I want to focus on a different example of the relationship between individual effort and reward. Rather than looking at a regular road stage in one of the Grand Tours, I want to look at the team time trial. Even here there are variations that have important implications for individual effort and team cohesion. The 2026 edition of the Tour De France begins with a team time trial. However, the organisers have changed the reward structure from that used in recent years.
Previously, all members of the team received the time of the fourth placed rider from that team to cross the line. Therefore, the gap between the first rider to cross the line and the fourth rider to cross the line was minimal. Beyond the fourth rider the gaps tended to increase. Many teams decided that they did not need their fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight riders to finish anywhere need the fourth rider. It might be inefficient to have anything left in the tank of the fifth rider. Therefore, some riders burnt themselves out like booster rockets. As all the members of the team got the same time then such a strategy made some sense.
Tomorrow, around the roads of Barcelona, the rewards are different. Each cyclist will get the time at which they cross the line. It should make a difference to the distribution of times by individual team members. It is unlikely that we will see the first four riders from teams finish as a group. Those teams devoted purely to getting their team leader to cross the line as quickly as possible might burn up all riders but the leader. Only the General Classification riders and those seeking the young riders jerseys are primarily focused on time. Those teams with riders targetting stage wins or those riders playing the role of domestiques might continue to sacrifice themselves for a team leader. It is hard to see any team with four riders who are attempting to minimise their time over the 21 day stages and 3,333kms.
Therefore, we can expect a wider dististribution of times for riders than previously. Those distributions will reveal the preferences of the individual teams. There will be a wider dispersion for teams focused purely on General Classification. It will be interesting to see how this experiment with the team time trial works (it has been used in other races). From Sunday it will be back to the more regular road race stages (with the exception of the individual time trial on Stage 16).
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