Did Armstrong Wait for Beloki??
- Thread starter HKP
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I agree with the jcjordan's comments. Also note the following:
-- Most significantly, the obligation to wait is traditionally the strongest when it is the race leader that is down. Beloki was obviously not in yellow when he fell. Also, LA generally has higher stature within the peloton than Beloki, and should get greater respect with respect to waiting.
-- LA had to show his mastery, and benefit from luck, in merely staying on his bike and avoiding Beloki, given how close LA was to Beloki when Beloki crashed. Therefore, LA had more urgent (and appropriately so) matters on his mind than the exact condition of Beloki -- he had to avoid crashing himself and potentially physically being precluded form continuing the race. He had to deal with the immediately ensuing conditions that he was no longer on the road.
As everybody knows, LA had to be in a field for a while. By the time that LA rejoined the riders, Bruyneel likely told him Beloki was alright.
-- Let's also not forget that LA had the problem with the musette during a mountain stage, where it might be more traditional to attack for those wanting to gain time. Beloki fell during a non-uphill portion.
-- Finally, LA was at the head of the peloton (with Mayo/JU) when the musette problem occurred. however, LA and Beloki were both chasing (and not the leading riders) when Beloki fell. Therefore, when LA fell, the leaders had no risk of losing additional time to people who were ahead of them by waiting (which I believe they did, including JU). However, if LA had stopped for Beloki, he risked losing even more time to other riders who were ahead of him.
-- Most significantly, the obligation to wait is traditionally the strongest when it is the race leader that is down. Beloki was obviously not in yellow when he fell. Also, LA generally has higher stature within the peloton than Beloki, and should get greater respect with respect to waiting.
-- LA had to show his mastery, and benefit from luck, in merely staying on his bike and avoiding Beloki, given how close LA was to Beloki when Beloki crashed. Therefore, LA had more urgent (and appropriately so) matters on his mind than the exact condition of Beloki -- he had to avoid crashing himself and potentially physically being precluded form continuing the race. He had to deal with the immediately ensuing conditions that he was no longer on the road.
As everybody knows, LA had to be in a field for a while. By the time that LA rejoined the riders, Bruyneel likely told him Beloki was alright.
-- Let's also not forget that LA had the problem with the musette during a mountain stage, where it might be more traditional to attack for those wanting to gain time. Beloki fell during a non-uphill portion.
-- Finally, LA was at the head of the peloton (with Mayo/JU) when the musette problem occurred. however, LA and Beloki were both chasing (and not the leading riders) when Beloki fell. Therefore, when LA fell, the leaders had no risk of losing additional time to people who were ahead of them by waiting (which I believe they did, including JU). However, if LA had stopped for Beloki, he risked losing even more time to other riders who were ahead of him.
I have to believe that the original poster intended the question as some form of humor. As musette has adequately pointed out, the situations were terribly different. At the point where Armstrong fell he was leading the stage, (excluding Sylvain), leading the race and on a mountain climb.
When Beloki fell, both he and Armstrong were attempting to catch Vinokourov who was too far ahead to know that there had been a crash so Vino obviously would not be waiting. That required that Armstrong continue the pursuit of Vino despite Beloki's crash. Aside from all that, they were clearly on a downhill stage which is one of the reasons Beloki sustained injuries significant to exclude him from continuing.
When Ullrich crashed on the Peyresourde, they were on a downhill section and there were riders ahead but no one who was in true contention to challenge as overall race leader. Armstrong slowed rather than just continuing his pace, allowing Ullrich to rejoin. When Armstrong crashed on Luz Ardiden, Ullrich did not attack but did not slow his pace until prompted to do so by Hamilton which effectively allowed the other riders near Ullrich to slow as well without fear of losing race position. As soon as Armstrong rejoined, the race resumed much like a yellow-light status on a formula one race.
The idea is to be sure that when you win the race, you've done so because you are a stronger, tactically superior rider, not because you're willing to take advantage of an unforeseeable incident.
When Beloki fell, both he and Armstrong were attempting to catch Vinokourov who was too far ahead to know that there had been a crash so Vino obviously would not be waiting. That required that Armstrong continue the pursuit of Vino despite Beloki's crash. Aside from all that, they were clearly on a downhill stage which is one of the reasons Beloki sustained injuries significant to exclude him from continuing.
When Ullrich crashed on the Peyresourde, they were on a downhill section and there were riders ahead but no one who was in true contention to challenge as overall race leader. Armstrong slowed rather than just continuing his pace, allowing Ullrich to rejoin. When Armstrong crashed on Luz Ardiden, Ullrich did not attack but did not slow his pace until prompted to do so by Hamilton which effectively allowed the other riders near Ullrich to slow as well without fear of losing race position. As soon as Armstrong rejoined, the race resumed much like a yellow-light status on a formula one race.
The idea is to be sure that when you win the race, you've done so because you are a stronger, tactically superior rider, not because you're willing to take advantage of an unforeseeable incident.
I just watched the crash again on the Tour buildup. Armstrong was only about 1.5 meters back from Beloki and going 80 kph (50 mph) when Beloki lost his groove on the back wheel on the melted tar roadway, the heat sweltering. It was amazing that Lance got around him through the same melted tar and avoided crashing. I bet his adrenaline was pumping.
If you watch the slow-motion replay, you can see that Lance slid his bike in near panic breaking for a short distance in order not to collide with Beloki. Had his reaction been delayed only a slight amount, he probably would have tangled with Beloki and both of them might well have been out of the race.
This clearly was not a situation where one would or could wait for the leader since Vinokourov, not Beloki was leading the stage and he was at least 10-15 seconds up the road and completely out of sight. He probably didn't even know about the crash until after he crossed the finish.
Had Ullrich been the leader when Lance fell and had Ullrich been chasing another rider who was threatening Ullrich's lead and had gone off up the road when Lance fell, it wouldn't have been expected that Ullrich would wait for Lance. The two situations are just completely different.
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