# Jens Voigt: Gentleman on a bike



## wzq622 (Aug 3, 2004)

What a class act! Last 200-300 meters and Voigt lets Garate win the stage after Garate paces Voigt up the last climb. A pat on the back by Voigt and a shake of the hands and Garate wins the stage.

I've never seen such a display of sportsmanship. Props to Voigt.

:thumbsup:


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

Yes, good move by Jens. Garate did all the work, Jens just hung out on his wheel. Garate deseved the win.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

wzq622 said:


> What a class act! Last 200-300 meters and Voigt lets Garate win the stage after Garate paces Voigt up the last climb.


Voight sat on the break all day as well, and Bettini did a boat load of the work to keep the break's gap earlier in the stage. Not enough reasons though not to contest the finish if he had chosen. That was classy.


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## borget (Sep 1, 2004)

Yes, it makes you think back to the Queen Stage of the Tour last year when a certain Disco rider was in the same situation....


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## tourdreamer (Sep 7, 2004)

Agreed, class move by Jens. Garate did all the work and Jens stuck on his wheel just to make sure Garate didn't get too far away and was there to protect Basso's interest. Some guys would have taken advantage and sprinted to the line.


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## cyclodawg (Jul 1, 2003)

Good thing Garate took it better than Pantani did back in 2000 at Mont Ventoux.

I remember Lance doing the same thing for Basso in 2004 and being heavily criticized for it.


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## cyclodawg (Jul 1, 2003)

George can't afford to give those away. Voigt's been in this situation before; he's won hard stages before.


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## Stud Muzzin (Mar 5, 2006)

Jens is a class act. Really enjoyed the insight into him in Overcoming.


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

All the respect in the world to Jens...class act...seems to be a great guy...super hard worker.


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## zosocane (Aug 29, 2004)

For anyone that watched that classic gesture, Jens Voigt just became one of their favorite riders. Chapeau, Jens, chapeau.

Oh yeah, another tall German did something similar in the 2001 TdF to Lance (although Lance wasn't taking the stage).


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*Jens rules*

gotta love a big teutonic diesel. class act, great defense of his 'boss'. I'm not going to draw any conclusions or comparisons because had this been a Tour stage it may not have played out as such. 2 different races. Nice climbing for a big diesel. I remember when a certain Kazach rider allowed Jens to do most of the work and pipped him in a monument.


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## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

Jens is the man, but not sure this is right:



> Voigt lets Garate win


Jens didn't "let" him win, he was pretty cooked at that point and knew he didn't have it for the sprint. Still he rode like a champ, and handled the situation with class. He is a big guy, so to even be there at the finish was amazing. Even more amazing given all the work he did this Giro. But, if he had the gas to win, _he would have won_- he's a consumate professional after all.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

He let him win in the sense he didn't contest the finish. If he would have contested it then the chips would have fallen where they may. Both of them looked shot. And Garate made a nice gesture in return to Voigt for the gift.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

cyclodawg said:


> Good thing Garate took it better than Pantani did back in 2000 at Mont Ventoux.


Pantani was a serious head case. He couldn't deal with the fact that he was one of the first ones to fall afoul of the UCI starting to tackle the drug problem and thus felt unfairly persecuted and maligned.


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## carlos (May 26, 2004)

borget said:


> Yes, it makes you think back to the Queen Stage of the Tour last year when a certain Disco rider was in the same situation....


that´s what i was thinking while garate was leading up the climb, i did think voight was going to sprint on the final but instead, he did the right thing, congratulations jens. :thumbsup:


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## 55x11 (Apr 24, 2006)

Dwayne Barry said:


> He let him win in the sense he didn't contest the finish. If he would have contested it then the chips would have fallen where they may. Both of them looked shot. And Garate made a nice gesture in return to Voigt for the gift.


What was the point of hanging on with Garate then, if not to go for the stage win?
I like Voigt. I think he is one of my all-time favorite riders. But if he had the energy, he should have gone for the win. 

My theory is that he was cooked and didn't want to turn in into an ugly sprint, that he probably knew he was going to lose anyways.


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## Guest (May 26, 2006)

Dwayne Barry said:


> Pantani was a serious head case. He couldn't deal with the fact that he was one of the first ones to fall afoul of the UCI starting to tackle the drug problem and thus felt unfairly persecuted and maligned.


Apparently he didn't understand Lance's mangled (french or italian - I forget which) and thought LA was basically saying "get your ass moving". Oops.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*maybe another thing*

being there and sitting on may have slowed garate's pace which made it easier for CSC and Ivan to protect GC lead. By not contesting the sprint Jens makes the statement "It's
(this Giro) is not about me,it's all about Ivan" which is the message they are all selling. Jens does this and it helps the entire teams dedication and resolve through the rest of the Giro.


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## Bianchigirl (Sep 17, 2004)

From cyclingnews:

"Garate's move came off an earlier attack from Slovenian Tadej Valjavec (Lampre-Fondital) and Jens Voigt (CSC), who attacked three kilometres earlier on the lower slopes of the Passo Di San Pellegrino. The latter, a noted non-climber but one of the best all-rounders in the game, displayed strength and stamina by hanging onto the Spaniard until just 300 metres remaining, until bidding his partner adieu in a very sportsmanlike gesture, patting Garate on the back and shaking hands.

"When I attacked at seven kilometres to go and caught Voigt, he immediately told me that he didn't want to sprint. So I made my own pace and didn't attack [Voigt]," explained Garate.

"Voigt worked a lot in the break today, and he certainly would have been very happy to win, but he showed there are other values and there is respect [between riders] in the race. He made a very nice gesture, and I think it is good for cycling... I will not forget what he did - he is a great champion and a great personality."

Said Voigt: "I was always sitting on the back of the attack, but I couldn't win today because I didn't work at all. You can only win if you are the strongest and it wouldn't have been right if I did."

Pure class from both riders - so good to see gentlemanly, sporting values triumph over 'professionalism' for a change - especially in light of all the upheaval in the sport at the moment - chapeau to Voigt and Garate


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## ampastoral (Oct 3, 2005)

thanks for the interview....voigt won me over when he put on the yellow jersey in last year's tour (correct, no?, i'm feeling confused at the moment). in the interview he was all smiles and simply stated that it was nice because it showed that he wasn't over the hill yet, so to speak. he's got character.


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## JGUTZ (Dec 13, 2005)

Another example of this is when Simoni let Perez win a mountain top finish in the 2002? Giro. Simoin could have easily taken the stage but gave it away to his breakaway partner who helped him gain time, and took the pink in the process.


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## tricycletalent (Apr 2, 2005)

Man, I realize I am slowly getting pi$$ed at y'all. On every bloody roadiepage on the net, threads are filled with praise for this german hightower- not congratulations for winning, but congratulations for not even trying.

First of all, I understand that some people try hard to come off as nice. It is a tactic, a way of ensuring later support, if you act like an a$$hole, then you are all by yourself. Which means that I respect ppl having enuff integrity to act normal, and not pathologically nice, like Voigt did. That guy is so full of ****. Are you riding a bike to show everybody what a nice dude you are, or are you riding your bike to burn rubber? 

Can you imagine _any_ other sport where you'd get praise for _not_ giving it your best to win? Can you imagine a 400m runner coming to a halt a couple of metres (ok, yards or whatever for the yanks of you) before the line, so that a dude from another country could win? Or a better example; in XC skiing, NOT pulling and NOT sharing the work is an important part of the tactics. Everybody is out to play their best cards, and if they can pull it off, they are saluted for being smart.

Cycling must be the only sport where you are saluted for being dumb. Perhaps because the tifosi here aint the brightest themselves. But I understand, it is all about the physiology, right? You bench around every Giro coverage crossing your fingers that every stage win goes to the man working hardest as if every stage was an individual TT. Well, sux. You suck. Period.


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## bornin53 (Sep 3, 2005)

*It Happens in Golf Matches as Well*

In match play golf events, putts are sometmes conceded as a gesture of sportsmanship. The most notable example of this was in the 1969 Ryder Cup when Jack Nicklaus conceded a three-foot putt to Tony Jacklin to tie the overall match. The US had won the previous match in 1967 and therefore retained the cup.

I am not passing judgement on whether conceding sporting events is the proper thing to do; I am just noting that such gestures are not without precedent.


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## Einstruzende (Jun 1, 2004)

Eddy Merckx would not approve.


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## StormShadow (Feb 27, 2005)

I agree.

What happened to "No Gifts"?


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## rufus (Feb 3, 2004)

atpjunkie said:


> being there and sitting on may have slowed garate's pace which made it easier for CSC and Ivan to protect GC lead. By not contesting the sprint Jens makes the statement "It's
> (this Giro) is not about me,it's all about Ivan" which is the message they are all selling. Jens does this and it helps the entire teams dedication and resolve through the rest of the Giro.


and Voight doesn't need whatever cash award there would be for winning the stage. he's already got a share of the overall victory prize.


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## A4B45200 (Aug 28, 2004)

Though I like the 'sportsmanship' showed by Voigt, does that somehow diminish the win for Garate? If that's Garate's biggest win of his career, it will always be known that his only competition for the win decided to let him have the stage. If that was me (Garate), I would have liked to beat Voigt to the line at full gas. But hey, a win's a win right?


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## TitaniumFemur (Oct 19, 2004)

Einstruzende said:


> Eddy Merckx would not approve.


would eddie wheel suck the entire day in a break


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

TitaniumFemur said:


> would eddie wheel suck the entire day in a break


exactly


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## tube_ee (Aug 25, 2003)

There's a few in this thread who've demonstrated a total lack of knowledge of our sport. Voigt was not in that break to win the stage, he was in it to limit the time gap. He's there, he's not working at all, and the other guys know that if the gap gets large enough to threaten Basso, he's going to start screwing things up in the break, and they'll all get caught.

Jens Voigt was doing his job, and everyone there understood this. It's also generally understood that, since he'd done nothing to help the break get time, he'd stay out of the sprint. Remember also that he's going to have to race with these guys every Sunday until October, plus the whole month of July. A gesture like this could well pay off later, when it matters much more. The opposite could also be true, and the other guy's team director is known for his long and unforgiving memory.

It's part of the sport that not every rider is out to win every race. This can be tough for Americans to understand, we're generally not wired that way, but situations like this are far from unusual in cycling. I'm glad to see Jens Voigt do this, it confirms again what a great professional he is.

--Shannon


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

tube_ee said:


> There's a few in this thread who've demonstrated a total lack of knowledge of our sport. Voigt was not in that break to win the stage, he was in it to limit the time gap. He's there, he's not working at all, and the other guys know that if the gap gets large enough to threaten Basso, he's going to start screwing things up in the break, and they'll all get caught.
> 
> Jens Voigt was doing his job, and everyone there understood this. It's also generally understood that, since he'd done nothing to help the break get time, he'd stay out of the sprint. Remember also that he's going to have to race with these guys every Sunday until October, plus the whole month of July. A gesture like this could well pay off later, when it matters much more. The opposite could also be true, and the other guy's team director is known for his long and unforgiving memory.
> 
> ...


You are absolutely correct. Cycling is a sport of gentlemen. This may be a difficult concept for the ungentlemanly amongst us to grasp.


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## rufus (Feb 3, 2004)

TitaniumFemur said:


> would eddie wheel suck the entire day in a break


apples and oranges. 

eddy merckx was the team leader; he'd have the Basso role. if one of his teammates was in a break, with him wearing the leader jersey, that teammate would be expected to wheel suck. 

If Eddy was just a domestique, working for his team leader, yes, he would wheelsuck too.


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## Bianchigirl (Sep 17, 2004)

Eddy would have been down the road alone and not seen again until the finish...


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## elviento (Mar 24, 2002)

Two completely different things. Voigt PROMISED Garate he will not attack. It's about keeping your promise, not about letting the person doing the work win. 

A big part of the cycling sport is about letting others do as much work as possible, hence such thing as a "lead out train". 

If every race come down to an "after-you", wouldn't all the fun be taken out?


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*Jens by my guess*

was on the limit so I guess he tossed a white flag in early. Garate could have accelerated away earlier on the climb and from what it sounds like is Jens admiited such and this allowed Garate to ride with someone and save a little of his legs and still get the win. Jens did his job of marking the break but admittedly didn't have the legs to keep up so he offered a truce which he didn't reneg on (hmmm Virenque!)


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