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July 17, 2007
On Breakaways in the Tour de France
From USA Today comes this example of sports economics: The escapees in Tuesday's stage were out front for more than six hours and 145 miles, only to be absorbed with the finish line in sight. If they hadn't taken a roadside restroom stop early on, they might have kept overall leader Fabian Cancellara of Team CSC from taking a surprise stage win. There was a method to their breakaway madness: Frenchmen Nicolas Vogondy of the Agritubel team and Matthieu Ladagnous of Franзaise des Jeux got more American TV time Tuesday than French President Nicolas Sarkozy gets in a month. Tour teams are financed by corporate sponsors, so think of breakaways as commercials with wheels. Most of Tuesday's stage was an extended infomercial for Agritubel's cattle-restraint devices and FDJ's French national lottery. Agritubel, a non-ProTour team that got a wild-card spot in the event, has been especially aggressive about getting riders out front. It was Cedric Hervй on Monday. Look for Nicolas Jalabert today. ADDENDUM (7/18): Co-blogger Bob points me a similar instance in this year's Boston Marathon: At yesterday's 111th Boston Marathon, two Kenyan athletes with slim credentials appeared to be trying to steal the race, when in fact they were simply stealing television time, promoting a running shoe ... Posted by E. Frank Stephenson at 02:24 PM in Sports
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