Hey, sweet peoples!
I just ride my little comfort bike on The Silver Comet Trail, but I’m a Lance Armstrong wanna be! (Who isn’t?).
Anyway, I followed the 2003 Tour the best I could, and even though I didn’t catch all of it, last night at work (8/7) I caught a snippet of one rider getting “clipped” on the shoulder by one of those frickin’ close-riding motorcycles, and even though he was in the top 5 “pack”, he never recovered.
I guess it might have been another race, but still…
I would like to know warum in der frigg those vehicles (sometimes they are cars) have to ride so friggin’ close to the cyclists, and don’t they (the cyclists) suffer from the Carbon Monoxide they have to breathe in?
Take it easy on my German ass, okay? I know I’m supposed to know this, but I don’t! 
Q
Quasimodem: I used to race in Europe 15 years or more ago, and the TV cameramen used to follow then too.
The carbon monoxide aspect is very minimal with a motorcycle - especially a 4 stroke doing 40+kph. The exhaust is down low so it’s not at a rider’s mouth height - and there’s usually only one motorbike at a time which is allowed to actually “mix it” with the riders.
Every now and then the motorbike will be in front of a breakaway - and sometimes you’ll have a moment of interference but in my experience it’s rarely the sole fault of the motorbike rider himself - usually there’s some other traffic hold up beyond the motorbike’s control which causes the confusion.
Also, almost always, the TV cameramen and motorbike drivers are former racing cyclists themselves. This really helps - in a big way. They have an innate understanding of what it takes to be up close and personal to racing cyclists without interfering if you know what I mean. They tend to ride in very disciplined ways - no sudden moves - no sudden swerves or braking maneouvres.
If you’re a racing cyclist, you can tell by the sound of a motorbike’s exhaust note when the driver is gassing it for some reason so you don’t get in their way and it all tends to work out quite well.
Sometimes though, in major pro races you’ll get a breakaway and various “team cars” are allowed to follow the break to provide spare wheels and drinks etc. But the race referee will order those team cars to the back of the main peloton if the time gap between the break and the peloton drops to a critically low amount.
The race referee makes the decision as to which team cars are allowed to follow a breakaway. He’ll call them up via race radio and the communications are very good.
Certainly, it’s rather exciting to be in a race and to have motorbikes in amongst the riders - especially on a high speed descent. If you’re a cyclist, and you know that the motorbike dudes are former racers themselves - you have a real sense of comfort knowing that they’re not going to do anything stupid.
You get the occasional clipping but it’s pretty rare all things considered.
Boo Boo Foo, thanks for that very detailed answer!
It just seemd that the cyclist in question was very surprised, and even the OLN reporters commented on the inapproriateness of the motorcyclist’s being there at that time, and like I said, he never recovered!
I would have had to kick some ass, sorry!
It’s just the German-American in me, just ignore it!
Q