Should one (be allowed to) replace the Cipollini’s?

Abstract One examines and discusses proposals on whether riders could be replaced in a team during multi-stage races, and how much a team final time at the end of the race would change (be "adjusted") if only the riders having completed the race are taken into account for ranking teams. A few results of the two main multi-stage races, the men Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, are used as case studies. The impact of disqualification later on, due to doping, much after the end of such a race, is also examined in the case of two Tour de France. The statistical discussion is based on the Kendall- $$\tau $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>τ</mml:mi></mml:math> coefficients for comparing team ranks at the end of these multi-stages races cases. One observes that there are significant differences in the results of the discussed measures. It is shown that there is much variety in results significance, whence demonstrating many interests of the "adjusted indicators". Moreover, it is argued that the "adjusted" rank indicator would promote more competitive and more attractive daily stages and lead to more valuable race management.