A friend just directed me to this clip on YouTube.
Interested in getting a range of options 
I had to watch a handful of times to even get what the question was, and what you are hinting at.
I’d love to see it slowed down with better quality (not bashing ya) - i suspect the chain was half on/off and when he cranked it - it came the rest of the way off and put some momentum into the crankset
It would be reasonable to think his BB is in good shape and cranks will spin a lot longer without any force holding them back
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Alternative response → proof his 2020 TdF TT fail was due to a dead battery
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If it was, why did it stop when he put the wheel down? Wouldn’t it have tried to run away from him?
I think these clips are kind of funny to be honest, I seem to remember a similar clip last year coming up. With a really optimized crankset/bearing interface, the freehub pawl friction is more than enough to spin the cranks with the rear wheel coasting as shown here. I’m wondering if people are so used to their bottom bracket bearings being wonky that they expect a crank to stop spinning when force to the pedals is stopped.
I use these on all my bikes and they do the exact same thing as Primoz’s did in this clip.
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Even with my 20,000mi bottom bracket I can still get the cranks to spin with the drivetrain if the chain is clean. Considering pros have top tuned bikes for every race this seems like a lot of tinfoilhattery
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so you are saying he cracked in that TT 
I see the exact same thing my bike does if I hold it up and crank the pedals, but for longer since my bike has an older and less well-maintained drivetrain.
Definitely tinfoil hattery!
I have a healthy skepticism of some of the performances, though like to believe in a cleaner sport.
But motor doping is crazy, they only just changed to Cervelo. You don’t think someone at Bianchi wouldn’t have said “Hey, did you know JV asked us to make a bike with space for a motor”
To add, when watching it realtime, I actually assumed he had a freehub issue and that’s why he changed. I immediately thought his freehub had locked (i.e. no freewheeling without chain suck) which would lead to a lot of crank turning on a meticulously maintained Ceramic BB.
Some of the team mechanics will put the Di2 junction box or battery in the end of the handlebar. I’m guessing that’s a shifting issue that required he do something with that.
I have that happen if I have my bike in a big gear and stop spinning the cranks without the rear wheel on the ground. Noticed it when taking the bike on/off trainer.
It’s a normal occurrence. And this is with a 5 year old Cervelo R3