I was driving the wheel car for the women’s race this weekend. They were having a good race, a little surging now and then. Popped a few off the back, DQed one on a hill. Looked like a race. One and a half laps in, two women had just reattached to the pack, one other was about 45 seconds behind and fading. It was a good time to put her out of her misery.
Why were they slowing down? In order to stop. They stood on the road milling and chatting until just after the dangler caught up. The commissaire came back to chat with them. Then they were off and racing again. The race continued, more women were popped (no catchups allowed anymore). Finish line sprints happened and the race was over.
Afterward, curiosity got the better of me and I asked what happened. Apparently, one of the riders in the front group was having trouble with her saddle. She was discussing with a team mate how she might fix it on the fly, when the rest of the group said, “Why don’t we stop?” And so they did. Once the saddle was fixed, they mounted up and started racing again. Civilised behaviour in a bike race. I’m gobsmacked.
1 comment:
Although I have not followed the Tour de France in years, you might recall that not too many years ago GC leaders stopped to wait for their fallen competitors. I just call it fair play and it is not stranger to cycling.
On the other hand civilisation in my mind belongs to cities and museums while bike racing is more about evolution... While evolution is raw and ruthless it does produce amazing things.
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