Lance's offroad diversion and helping riders

07-26-2004, 07:07 AM

I finally saw the full clip of Lance's offroad scramble in last year's
TdF a while ago. It looks like he cut out some of the course (a sharp
turn); could there possibly be a penalty for not going through the whole
course by doing something like this?
Also, I've seen a lot of footage of people in cars helping riders while
they're racing. Some aren't even pedaling, such as a guy who had his foot
in a car window for the team doctor to examine. Is there some sort of
policy for this, about how much a car can pull you along during the
course?

Thanks,

Adam