John Rees

The “Bag”
As I mentioned yesterday, racers in the Tour de France do not stop to eat.  They get food handed to them from team cars or in a designated ‘feed zone’.  In these zones, team assistants hand the racers cloth bags full of food, gel and water bottles.  These bags are called ‘musettes’.  Once the riders have transferred the contents to their pockets, they discard the bags.  But before you think these bags litter the French countryside, you need to know they are highly sought after as souvenirs.  These musettes get grabbed up immediately after the riders have moved on up the road.

In stage 15 of the 2003 Tour, Lance was in a fight with Basque Iban Mayo and German Jan Ullrich on a climb to the ski area of Luz-Ardiden.  Shadowing the Texans wheel, Mayo was right behind Armstrong when his handlebar clipped the musette bag of a girl standing on the side of the road.  The bag pulled Lance down and over the handlebars.  Mayo went down and crashed into Lance’s bike.  Ullrich, who was a few meters behind was able to steer away from disaster and ride on.

Then, two remarkable things happened:  Lance managed to get up and re-mount his bike.  The road was so narrow and full of spectators, the team could not get a spare bike to him.  Lance took off in pursuit of Ulllrich up the road.

Next, Ullrich, observing an unspoken code in the Tour, slowed and waited for Lance to get back up to speed.  It is considered bad form for riders to attack the yellow jersey when they encounter misfortune, and Lance was wearing the yellow jersey of the leader.  Two years previously, in another mountain stage, Armstrong had waited for Ullrich when, on a fast descent, the German had lost control and crashed off the road and into the trees.  Armstrong waited then as a sign of respect, and Ullrich returned the favor when the Texan tumbled.

As he raced up to catch Ullrich, Lance once again nearly crashed as his foot clipped out of the pedal. Once back with German, the racing resumed, and the adrenaline from the crash and near crash lit a fire in Armstrong and he dropped his break away partners and went on to win the stage.  It was another epic day in the mountains, but there is more to tell:  After the stage, Lance’s bike was inspected and it was found to have been cracked from the impact with the road.  The bike could have failed at any time, and the damage is likely the reason that Lance had trouble keeping his foot in the pedals as he chased down the other riders.