mrbUSA

Thank you to whom ever suggested reading The Rider by Tim Krabbe. A personally suggested parallel to The Old Man and the Sea. Neither Krabbe or Santiago for that matter ever mentioned the word 'zen' but boy is it evident in their triumphs and tribulations.

What impressed me the most was not the hairpin turns or the climbs but the chivalry among the senior racers and how Krabbe expressed the beauty from being in pain through racing, rationing and controlling the urge to take the lead just to burn out. "Standing on each other's shoulders just to wipe the mud off a sign on the road." "Pain turning to pleasure on the other side of the finish line."

I'm not a racer (yet?) but I can appreciate this sport like no other. It's personal and masochistic.

Can anyone of you answer this question; Is there still a chivalry in today's racing to give the hardest riding opponent the win because they deserve it more even though you might have the stones to beat him?

Mike

pseudobrit

No gifts.

botto 

Yes.

Jens Voigt, stage 19, 2006 Giro d'Italia.

Snuffleupagus

Exactly, at least at the amateur level where one's next meal isn't contingent upon race results the best gift you can give a competitor is your utmost effort.

Hipcycler

....wipes tear from eye.

Yes, great book.

mrbUSA

With his team leader Ivan Basso behind them, Jens Voigt couldn't contribute to the breakaway with Juan Manual Gárate. In the closing meters, Voigt patted Gárate on the back and let him take the win. Voigt later said "I was always sitting on the back of the attack, but I couldn't win today because I didn't work at all. You can only win if you are the strongest and it wouldn't have been right if I did

Moochers_Dad

And then Voight added "It's not like I'm George Hincapie."

baiskeli

Jens Voigt = class act

carpediemracing 

Another example is Pinotti allowing the Panaria guy to take the stage in the 2007 Giro. Pinotti had to brake to let the other guy in front at one point.

This happens in local races too, usually by some of the more experienced racers who aren't particularly concerned with winning at all costs. I know one guy who didn't even sprint in a few two man breaks because he figured the other guy deserved the win.

I have yet to see a young, hungry racer do the same, unless the other racer/s is/are his teammates.

At the same time I've seen local two man breaks disintegrate in the final lap as both riders resort to extremely dirty riding, sometimes leading to disqualification, and both of them being "more experienced racers".

A pro example of this might be when Voight and Perreiro came into town the day Perreiro took yellow - Voigt was obviously very, very strong, caused the last selection, and Perreiro still wanted to sprint.

Another is when the AG2R racer and the Agributel racer came in, with the AG2R racer almost assured of taking the yellow. He wasn't sure though so he refused to give the stage to the Agributel rider, a standard thing to do if you're about to take yellow. So they messed around, gave away a bunch of time, and the next day the AG2R racer lost the yellow by 8 seconds.

So it happens sometimes and it doesn't happen other times.

Man for the life of me I can't remember names.

AG2R guy was Dessel. Got that one.

cdr

waterrockets 

+1 great book

You all remember Leipheimer giving the stage up in ToC, right?

threeflys

That's what I was thinking also...Levi was a class act that day, as I'm sure he could have easily taken the win from the younger rider.

Chris

kudude

no doubt. it was great to see how excited that rabobank kid was with the win. Levi got what he needed, and the kid got a stage win. Win win situation, and now I don't have to hate levi.

Spreggy

Ditto, it was good to see.

DiabloScott

Would have been a lot classier if Jens had put on his bonk face and then told the press "best man won". Instead he gives JMG a condescending gesture and craps on his glory and steals his air time.

kudude

You aren't talking about the ToC, are you?

botto 

nope. don't watch the meaningless races.

if it was a case of LL getting the yellow on the same stage, then that's etiquette. that's all.

botto 

time to renew your ritalin prescription.

classic1

Voight actually got paid out on by Bjarne Riis for not taking the win.

AlexTaylor

Hmmm, just watched the Kuurne Brussels Kuurne highlights and felt rather sorry for Langeveld...

Must get that book.

kudude

Hincapie [edit]won[\edit] the last stage of the ToC in a breakaway. I could recap, but if you care you'll look it up. I was curious if the poster thought that Hincapie's win IN THAT STAGE was somehow "dickish"



edit -- my typing/grammar/wording is AWFUL

Tree

I think they may have been referring to this TdF stage.

DiabloScott

Hincapie's TdF stage win wasn't exactly panacheful, but it was necessary.

Anytime a GC leader sends one of his guys in with the break, it's because he doesn't want the break to succeed. EVERYONE knows this, it's a well-understood and accepted tactic. The guy sits in and doesn't work and the guys in the break know that they either have to get rid of the guy (in this case GH) by attacking, or give up and go back to the pack, or else the guy will just sit in and win the stage.

Now if said breakaway group DOESN'T get rid of the guy, the wheel sucker (again GH in this case) is obligated to win because otherwise the whole tactic is a meaningless bluff.

The guys on Pla d'Adet (Pereiro et al) all deserved to lose that day... except George.

And this was nothing like the Levi - Gesink situation in the ToC... that was an alliance.

Reynolds 

Armstrong let Pantani win a mountain stage at the Tour, right?

Hammertoe

The thing I like most about the book is that it captures how a cyclists mind can wander when riding but it always comes back to the pain...









We all know it well...

Moochers_Dad

No, I was talking about the Queen's Stage of the 2005 Tour De France. There was a break-away and Hincapie sat on ALL day with the plan that he would be there if the peloton caught the break; he could then help Armstrong.

The peloton never caught the break and there were no riders in it that were a threat to Armstrong's lead, so Johan told Hincapie to go ahead and ride his own race. So Hincapie continued to sit on and then sprinted past Oscar Pereiro to take the stage.

But I made the joke just to make a joke. I like Hincapie, a lot. And I personally think it goes along with the overall work that George did through that race to help Armstrong win. Hincapie got a lot of flak, but really, if your team leader is in yellow, then that's an advantage for the whole team.

Anywhooooo... I want to read The Rider now.