On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 15:57:10 -0600,
wrote:

On 14 Jul 2005 12:49:30 -0700,
wrote:



gwhite wrote:
Good thing he was wearing a helmet.

No, if he hadn't been wearing a helmet, he would've been more careful
and wouldn't have crashed. Crashes were almost unheard of in
professional cycling before rules were introduced requiring the use of
helmets.

Dear SS,

If true, your theory would predict that the last-kilometer
crash rule below was created after helmets were required in
the Tour de France, since otherwise there would be no need
for it:

"There is also a rule that if a rider crashes within the
last kilometre of the stage, which is indicated by a red
triangular pennant raised above the road, then they are
credited with the finishing time of the group that they were
with when they crashed, if that is better than the time in
which they actually finish. This avoids sprinters being
penalised for accidents that don't accurately reflect their
performance on the stage as a whole. A crashed sprinter
won't win the sprint, but avoids being penalised in the
overall classification."

"(The red pennant - known as the flamme rouge - mentioned
above may not always be one kilometre exactly from the
finish, it is basically in the area of roughly 1000metres
leading up to the finish where a crash is most likely, and
where the erection of a large, tent-like inflatable is
easiest.)"

http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Tour_de_France

Does anyone know when the red-flag rule appeared and when
helmets were first required for most of the Tour?

Carl Fogel

As recently as 1999, helmets were not required in the Tour
de France. See the first question he

http://espn.go.com/cycling/france99/...s/andreu3.html

The flamme-rouge rule that allows riders to crash without
time penalty in the final kilometer appeared in 1906:

"Anyone watching the Tour on OLN today will be familiar with
the "flamme rouge" which marks the start of the final
kilometer of each stage. This concept was first introduced
in 1906."

http://www.dailypeloton.com/grahamjones.asp

So the theory that professional bicycle race crashes were
almost unheard of before helmets were required seems to be
nonsense--rules specifically encouraging crashing had been
in force for over 90 years in the Tour de France.

Carl Fogel