In the first 30 seconds of this clip
we see a major bike race, as the riders race along a hairpin , S-shaped bend in the road.
Just before entering bend, one rider crashes, and the rider directly behind him is forced to swerve dangerously,to avoid the crash.
After swerving, the rider finds himself off the asphalt road entirely…so he just keeps riding through a field of open grass, taking a shortcut to get back onto the road, on the straight stretch, after the bend.
This means that he rode a straight line , for a distance that was maybe 50-60% shorter than the rest of the riders-- who stayed on the asphalt and rode the whole s-shaped curved.
This is apparently competely legal, and the commentator wildly praises the rider (Lance Armstrong)for his great athletic ability.
My quesitions are:
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when is it legal for a rider to leave the official route?
Obviously, in this case, Armstrong did not do it intentionally…he suffers some lost time when he swerves, rides over the rough surface of an open field, and actually has to get off his bike, lift it over a guard rail, and then start riding again on the asphalt from a standstill. But he still is able to stay near the front of the pack, because they all took the longer route through the curves.
Could a rider take such a shortcut intentionally? Or maybe by faking an accident, locking the brakes like the rider who crashed, then “forcing” himself to swerve of the road, and then taking the shortcut to the head of the pack?
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why does the commentator praise this manoever so lavishly?
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Is there any other sport which allows this?
To me,( a totally non-sporty person), it just seems like cheating.
(I’m smiling as I imagine a slalom skier cutting a straight line instead of making each turn 
)
(and please, let’s ignore the fact that Lance Armstrong features as the star of this clip. I don’t care about his current controversy over doping; there are other threads for that.)
In this case they allowed it as the shortcut was to avoid an accident and actually slowed the rider down. If a rider would take a shortcut just because it was faster, then they would be disqualified. I’ve been in races where the roads are not blocked off like in the Tour de France. They had what is called the ‘center line’ rule. If you crossed the painted center line on the road, for example to pass someone or cut a corner faster, you would be eliminated from the race.
As why the commentator, Paul Sherwen, praised the maneuver, well it was pretty unusual, dramatic, and those skinny tires on a road bicycle aren’t designed for such surfaces like a mountain bike or cyclocross bike is.
Also (as I understand it) there are rules in the Tour de France to prevent loss of time due to accidents in the final kilometers of a stage - so if Lance Armstrong was chasing the leader, then when the guy ahead of him had the accident (which was due to tar melting on the road surface), Armstrong would not lose time anyhow. Doing what he did was quicker, kept him with the chasers (and so helped him maintain his rhythm) and would not be against the spirit of the rules in any case.
And I have heard that the tour riders are pretty honourable (apart from the whole performance enhancing drugs thing), and would have allowed someone in Armstrongs position to regain their place at the head of that chasing group - riders should not be penalised for accident delays that they did not cause. You don’t want to beat one of the top riders because he was tied up by an accident he did not cause - you want to beat him because you were faster than him on the day.
It is not much different from motor racing really. Generally if you miss a corner or chicane you won’t be penalised if you don’t gain any benefit from it. Sometimes even if you do gain an advantage you still won’t be penalised as long as you give up the advantage.
It wasn’t within that zone. You can see the 4.5km to go banner at the end of the clip. The “no loss of time if there is an accident” only applies to the last 3km.
Moved to the Game Room.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I’ve always maintained that Malcolm Smith cheated and should have been DQ’ed from the Grand Prix featured in **On Any Sunday. **
He clearly cut the course, avoided the mudholes, passed lots of people, rejoined the course and eventually finished. (won?)
I cry “Bullshit!”. I raced D37 and that would not have flown.
I get very little backup on this opinion.