In an incredible act of sportsmanship, two competing cyclists decided to put the fate of their race in the hands of ‘rock, paper, scissors’.
The hours professional cyclists put in has to be some of the best and most intense in the world, so you would expect race day would be both anxiety-inducing and exhilarating.Well, two cyclists competing in a race as part of the Tour of Slovenia in 2022 decided to let their sportsmanship do the talking when they finished at the same time.
Rafal Majka and Tadej Pogacar were so far ahead that in both a noble and hilarious moment, the pair played a quick game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’ to see who should win.
The pair were teammates for UAE Team Emirates and had been dominating the competition before the race. The video of the moment has begun to recirculate on social media with impressed viewers demanding to know more about the story. Majka emerged as victor to claim his second stage win of the Tour, with his paper beating Pogacar’s rock. Check out the victorious moment below:
Rock, paper, scissors anyone? ✂
Rafaj Majka and Tadej Pogacar take a 1-2 at the Tour of Slovenia… decided by a game of rock, paper, scissors! 😅 pic.twitter.com/YfyujYGMkM
— Eurosport (@eurosport) June 18, 2022
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Fernando Barceló of Caja Rural–Seguros RGA finished 22 seconds behind the Emirates duo.
The moment, which has recently been re-shared online, does get a little bit more complicated – but many sport fans in their infinite wisdom have explained how cycling works as a team sport and why Pogacar’s gesture was such a big deal.
Not many realise that cycling is essentially a team sport and not an individual one, and races will usually have a single team leader who is considered a serious contender, while the rest on the team are there to support the leader.
“That might mean blocking the wind for the leader so that the leader can save energy to attack at a critical moment, or chasing down attacks from opponents so the team leader doesn’t have to, or even something as mundane as fetching water and sustenance for the team leader and other team members,” one user on Reddit explained.
“In the end, the goal is to deliver your team leader across the line in first place. Pogačar was probably within his right to ask Majka to hand him the stage win, being team leader and all, but I imagine he was feeling pretty grateful to Majka for riding in support of him for the past two days.
“That’s probably why he let it be settled by rock paper scissors, and why he was all smiles as he sent Majka across the line first.”
A brilliant show of sportsmanship from the pair of them!
