(Appkiller) wrote:

Hamilton slowed down the favorites group, which included second-placed
German Jan Ullrich, after the defending champion crashed on the climb
to the finish.

Armstrong had just counter-attacked behind Iban Mayo when he appeared
to get a spectator's bag snagged in his brake lever, bringing himself
and the Basque rider crashing to the ground.

"There's an unwritten rule in cycling that when the yellow jersey
crashes or has a mechanical (problem) you wait for him," said
Hamilton, who was Armstrong's right-hand man at U.S. Postal until he
left the team at the end of 2001.

"I didn't feel like the riders were waiting and I felt a
responsibility to go to the front and make a hand gesture to slow
down...."

I haven't seen the viddie but the story seems to speak for itself.
Kudos to Tyler for his heroic cycling and promotion of fair play.

Ullrich DID slow down - I suspect Tyler was talking about the other
riders (I did see his hand gesture in the OLN coverage). In fact,
Ullrich was well ahead of Tyler when Lance went down, and obviously
slowed down before Tyler caught him.

Ultimately they all did the right thing, because Lance rejoined the
group very quickly (even if he DID get a "little overexcited" at
first) (no spoiler here...)

Ya think Pantani woulda waited? ;-)

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame