4 ms·

Did you make a bad deal if the other party reneges? If you pay someone for something and they don't deliver was that you making a bad deal? No way! The weake

Did you make a bad deal if the other party reneges? If you pay someone for something and they don't deliver was that you making a bad deal? No way! The weaker/winning rider offered the deal. It was mutually beneficial. If they fight, they likely get caught and neither gets 1st or 2nd. If they make a deal and cooperate, the stronger/losing rider would get 1st and the weaker/winning rider would get 2nd. I don't think that's a bad deal for either rider. To then break the deal is where the problem is. The weaker/winning rider would have had no shot to win without lying first. Thats unsportsmanlike in a sport where these deals are considered ok (which they are).

hammock 7y ago
I hear you. If both riders held up their end, it would have been mutually beneficial. But by "bad deal" I mean, notwithstanding the deal being mutually beneficial, there was really no reason for the weaker rider not to defect and sprint at the end. In OP story, the stronger rider is expecting to finish first. Contrast that with the case you described in parent comment, wherein the stronger (GC) rider is expecting to finish second under the terms of the deal. Very different setup.
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  In the article it's clearly stated that breaking the deal haunted the weaker rider for the rest of his career (and life). There was plenty of reason not to defect, and he regretted it immediately and never stopped regretting it. Giving your word and then violating it, and being called out publicly for it in an area where your word is important, is highly damaging to you. Guy ended up divorced partly because his wife kept throwing it back on him that his entire career was built around breaking a promise.