Ethics in Sports

Amazing story in the LATimes on the ethics in the sport of professional cycling.

Tour de France's unwritten rules of the road:

• If the leader crashes but can get up, the peloton waits. It is bad form to win because of another rider's misfortune.

• If the leader needs a bathroom break (and they do), the peloton waits. It is bad form to attack while the leader has his pants down.

• If the leader needs to slow down at the food station, the peloton slows down. It is bad form to attack while the leader has his mouth full.

• If a stage of the Tour de France ends on Bastille Day in France, try to let a Frenchman win.

• If a stage ends in or near the hometown or home country of a particular rider who is able to win the stage, let him win.

• If a rider is coming back from injury or suspension and has worked hard to get in shape, let him win a stage. Everybody appreciates a pat on the back for a job well done.

• If a stage wanders near the hometown of a rider, let the rider wander off, eat lunch with his wife, have champagne in the town square and wander back to the peloton. The food, the champagne, the wife, presumably will have slowed said rider down, anyway.