Cyclists admit 18th stage of TdeF was fixed: Bikefanclub.com

Per Velonews:
When Italian Filippo Simeoni (Domina Vacanze) in 14th place and over 20 minutes, back leapt the gap to catch the break of 6 cyclists, not one of which could have any effect on any individual jersey or team prize, Armstrong followed.

One of the six nobodies Spaniard Vicente Garcia-Acosta (Illes Baleares) spoke to Armstrong, asking him to do the breakaway a favor and leave them to fight for the stage victory.

Armstrong accepted, but only if Simeoni left the break as well.

The break then told Simeoni to leave, according to Sebastien Joly (CrÃ©dit Agricole).

From OLN--some stern words from others in the escape prompted Filippo Simeoni to succumb to Lanceâ€™s wishes

We all knew that proper deals are made in a bike race, but it is deals of co-operation not deals eliminating a rider from the competition or candid deals to allow the peloton to take the day off.
The latter are impliedly made, once I even recollect 3/4s of the entire peloton including Lance going so slow that the TdeF organizers had to change the elimination time in order to keep the stars including Lance in the race.

Could you imagine what would be the outcry if a player on losing team in a lopsided NFL championship game told the press afterwards that they cut a deal in the fourth not to sack the opposing quarterback if he promised not to throw completions.

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