Lance's offroad diversion and helping riders

I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last year's
TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course (a sharp
turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going through the whole
course by doing something like this?
Also, I've seen a lot of footage of people in cars helping riders while
they're racing. Some aren't even pedaling, such as a guy who had his foot
in a car window for the team doctor to examine. Is there some sort of
policy for this, about how much a car can pull you along during the
course?

Thanks,

Adam

Adam Bender wrote:
:: I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last
:: year's TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course
:: (a sharp turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going
:: through the whole course by doing something like this?

Do you really think this made a bit of difference on a course that is likely
100+ miles long? Also, he nearly crashed by going off course like that. No
bike rider in his/her right mind would do that on purpose.

:: Also, I've seen a lot of footage of people in cars helping riders
:: while they're racing. Some aren't even pedaling, such as a guy who
:: had his foot in a car window for the team doctor to examine. Is
:: there some sort of policy for this, about how much a car can pull
:: you along during the course?
::
:: Thanks,
::
:: Adam

"Adam Bender" wrote

Also, I've seen a lot of footage of people in cars helping riders while
they're racing. Some aren't even pedaling, such as a guy who had his foot
in a car window for the team doctor to examine. Is there some sort of
policy for this, about how much a car can pull you along during the
course?


Rules for the Tour
http://www.letour.fr/2004/us/reglement.html

If you look closely when the team car hands out a waterbottle or food,
you'll see him give the rider a little pull along.

Pete

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Roger Zoul wrote:

Adam Bender wrote:
:: I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last
:: year's TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course
:: (a sharp turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going
:: through the whole course by doing something like this?

Do you really think this made a bit of difference on a course that is likely
100+ miles long? Also, he nearly crashed by going off course like that. No
bike rider in his/her right mind would do that on purpose.


No I don't think it made any difference, but then again I'm not the person
who writes or enforces Tour rules, so my opinion doesn't count. I wanted
to know what an "official" view of it was. And he did it to avoid a
crash, so maybe it was the less riskier of the two choices. I had heard
he'd also been training with some cyclocross, which could have helped him,
but overall I think it's just another small example of why LA is the
greatest athlete of all time.

Adam

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:07:11 -0400 (EDT), Adam Bender
wrote:


I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last year's
TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course (a sharp
turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going through the whole
course by doing something like this?

I don't know the official ruling, but the gist of it was that the
off-course riding was not deliberate and was in response to another
rider's problems so Armstrong wouldn't be penalized.

Dan Daniel wrote:
On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:07:11 -0400 (EDT), Adam Bender
wrote:


I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last
year's TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course
(a sharp turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going
through the whole course by doing something like this?

I don't know the official ruling, but the gist of it was that the
off-course riding was not deliberate and was in response to another
rider's problems so Armstrong wouldn't be penalized.

Exactly right. Also, he did NOT gain any time advantage over the other
riders, who actually more or less WAITED for him to emerge from the field
and resume riding.

Bill "not like he cut a corner to gain on rivals" S.

Adam Bender wrote:
:: On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Roger Zoul wrote:
::
::: Adam Bender wrote:
::::: I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last
::::: year's TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the
::::: course (a sharp turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not
::::: going through the whole course by doing something like this?
:::
::: Do you really think this made a bit of difference on a course that
::: is likely 100+ miles long? Also, he nearly crashed by going off
::: course like that. No bike rider in his/her right mind would do
::: that on purpose.
:::
::
:: No I don't think it made any difference, but then again I'm not the
:: person who writes or enforces Tour rules, so my opinion doesn't
:: count. I wanted to know what an "official" view of it was. And he
:: did it to avoid a crash, so maybe it was the less riskier of the two
:: choices. I had heard he'd also been training with some cyclocross,
:: which could have helped him, but overall I think it's just another
:: small example of why LA is the greatest athlete of all time.

Yes, from the look of it he had no choice but to go off the course. I had
not heard it has been into cyclocross, though. Do you think he has future
plans along those lines? I do wonder where LA rates on the greatest athlete
scale. He seems pretty amazing to me...but then, so do all those bicyclist
at the TdF level.

Subject: Lance's offroad diversion and helping riders


On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Roger Zoul wrote:

Yes, from the look of it he had no choice but to go off the course. I
had not heard it has been into cyclocross, though. Do you think he has
future plans along those lines?

I had read that in a cycling mag over the winter, from someone who had
done cyclocross training with LA, mostly to add variety to his training.
He made the comment that it must have helped him not kill himself when he
did this. The gist seemed to be that he did this only sparingly and
for training only, though who's to say?

I do wonder where LA rates on the greatest athlete
scale. He seems pretty amazing to me...but then, so do all those
bicyclist at the TdF level.

Yes, they are all amazing - and even more amazing is that one of them won
6 years in a row. He is the epitome of ridiculously great. He's the best
among a groupg of athletes that are better than almost every other
athlete. Granted it's hard to make a comparison with some other greats
like Joe Montana and Bae Ruth... but then, a Superbowl's only 60 minutes,
isn't it?

Adam

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:07:11 -0400, Adam Bender wrote:


I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last year's
TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course (a sharp
turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going through the whole
course by doing something like this?

I believe the official ruling at the time was that "he had gained no
competitive advantage" therefore no penalty was assessed.


-=Dave=-

Adam Bender Wrote:
I had heard he'd also been training with some cyclocross, which could
have helped him, but overall I think it's just another small example of
why LA is the
greatest athlete of all time.
Adam
What he did was pure reaction and anyone who spends a lot of time on a
bike would do similar.


--
byron27