TDF: A Class Act

Armstrong's bike was ripped out from under him, smacking the American to the pavement. Iban Mayo (Euskaltel), anchored on the U.S. Postal leader's wheel, catapulted too, putting two of the Tour's favourites in jeopardy at the climax of the race.

Jan Ullrich, for his part, was home free. Skirting the crash, the 29-year-old German suddenly had nothing but open road in front of him; an express-lane opportunity to disappear with the stage and, maybe, the overall race.

Ullrich took a different path.

The Bianchi rider – who before stage 15 floated just 15" adrift of Lance Armstrong in the overall standings – swung wide in the next corner, cutting his cadence until Armstrong was back on track.

Ullrich didn't attack because, in cycling, that's something you just don't do.

"There's an unwritten rule that when the yellow jersey crashes or has a mechanical problem, you wait for him," Tyler Hamilton said after the stage. The American CSC rider acted as a caution flag following the crash. Hustling to the front of a group of riders unscathed and up the road after the incident, Hamilton raised his hand (and his voice) to stop any accelerations until Armstrong was back on his bike.

Hamilton is a friend, compatriot and former teammate of Lance Armstrong, but none of that explains his motivation. "Whether it was Lance or somebody else, I would have done the same thing," said Hamilton, faithful to the fair-play etiquette of the sport.

Remarkably, the most dramatic minutes of the race thus far turned out to be a non-event; an intermission from an action-packed drama that had no effect on the rest of the day's plot.

Indeed, the crash occurred at a part of the stage script where, on the vertical grades of Luz-Ardiden, Iban Mayo had jumped away on a solo flyer. Lance Armstrong latched on to his wheel and the duo began to peel away from the rest of the race.

It's here that the crash entered stage right, derailing Stage 15's story line. The riders waited until the leading man was back in the bunch, and the scenario then rewound to where it left off. Mayo re-attacked off the front and again Lance Armstrong jumped on his wheel, this time attacking in turn and accelerating away to win the stage and secure his claim to the yellow jersey.

It was a class act of Ullrich and the rest to reign in the race, a gesture the Bianchi rider says was "natural."

"I have never in my life attacked someone who had crashed," Ullrich said Monday. "That's not the way I race."

Neither is that the racing way of Lance Armstrong, who waited for Ullrich during the 2001 Tour when the German pitched off the road descending the Peyresourde in the Pyrenees. "I think Ullrich remembered that from two years ago, and I appreciate what he did today," said Armstrong.

Jan Ullrich's selflessness may have cost him time (he's now a deeper 1'07" down in the standings), but it hasn't yet cost him the race. "There's still one more day in the Pyrennees and, of course, [Saturday's] time-trial," said Ullrich, who trounced Armstrong by a hefty 1'36" margin to win the Tour's first race against the clock last week.

The Tour de France show must go on. And regardless who wins in Paris Sunday, the race has already proved to be a blockbuster.