Had that Stage 21 of the ‘87 race gone down today, I think it would have taken a miracle for French TV crews to pick up immediately on Roche’s late move. Fignon and Fuerte were dueling for the stage win at the head of the race, Parra was in no-man’s between the leaders and Delgado, and the two French GC hopes were back down the road behind Roche; that’s a lot of action _and_ a lot of Frenchmen to monitor with one (French) TV signal. Maybe GPS would have smoothed out the time gap reporting a bit, but I can’t imagine the radio would have allowed Delgado to hold his gap.

I will admit, however, that any little bit of help would have been huge, seeing that Delgado ended up losing the Tour by a mere 40 seconds…

I think the elements of confusion, surprise, and stealth - conditions which may allow moves to develop - are stifled if a team’s DS can watch everything go down in actual time on television and immediately relay the information to his team. Prior to race radios and television with the DS autos, the DS would get the word over the primary Tour shortwave and there would very likely be a several minute lag before the DS could corral one of his riders and then have the rider disseminate information to the team. I think race radios do not put enough of a premium on rider vigilance.

This may just be a one-off instance, but I look to one of the decisive stages of the 1987 Tour for an instance when stealth and smarts was paramount. Delgado quite possibly could have emerged victorious if he had known that Roche was coming back to him like gangbusters over the final 4km of the summit finish at La Plagne. Roche knew he couldn’t go head to head with Delgado up the climb, and he knew that Delgado would cease to receive blackboard time checks over the final several kilometers. So he kept Delgado at about 1:30 and then killed it over the final 4km knowing that Delgado would have no means to find out what was taking place behind him. I think Delgado had enough in the tank to keep Roche where he was if he knew what was developing behind him.

I’m not a total luddite. I started racing in the days of wool clothing, toe clips and straps, leather hairnets, downtube shifting, crappy clinchers, and “light” bikes that weighed in at about 23 pounds. I’m more than happy that I don’t have to use anything of the like these days. I think the “rider’s hour record” is stupid. I think the minimum weight requirement for bikes is unnecessary. If somebody wants to hit 60+ mph descending in the Alps or wherever while on a 10 pound bike more power to you. But I’ll laugh a plenty when your rig snaps in half.

I guessed somebody might call me on the race radio proclamation when I hit submit, and I don’t know that my off the cuff defense has any sway. But thanks for reading and commenting.

Jason-
Damn, I cursed Lombardi.

You are correct, though, in saying the “safety of the riders” issue is a crock. Like most arguments that appeal to safety, it’s merely an attempt to force acceptance of an idea without incurring more thoughtful contemplation.