TdF today: service while you ride!

lowkey wrote:
Seems like it's almost cheating though - stop pedalling and hold on to a
car? Granted the guy wasn't in contention, but still;. te cynic in me sees
the opportunity for abuse.

Right you are -- occasionally you'll see a struggling rider go back to
the team car to have the mechanic "look for a problem". I think Tour
officials are fairly lenient unless someone gets an obvious tow for a
long time, but teams and riders do get penalized from time to time.

You'll also notice that when riders get water bottles from their team
car, they usually get a nice little slingshot effect as they take the
last bottle. Sometimes on climbs it can be quite noticeable.


-JR