Lance Armstrong won an unprecedented seven consecutive Tour de Frances.
1. During his fifth consecutive victory in the 2003 Tour de France, in the fifteenth stage of the competition, he took a severe tumble off his bike.
2. It occurred when a race fan was leaning over the course barrier to get a better view, and a plastic bag in that person’s hand snagged Armstrong’s handlebars.
3. He went sprawling onto the street.
4. His closest competitor at the time was Jan Ullrich – only 15 seconds behind.
5. This was Ullrich’s perfect chance to take the lead.
6. But Ullrich did something non-cyclists would have trouble understanding.
7. He stopped and halted the competition while Armstrong got to his feet, checked his bike, and began peddling.
8. At the end of that stage, Armstrong had extended his lead to 67 seconds.
9. What you need to know is that waiting for a fallen competitor is not a rule in bicycle racing.
10. It is, however, part of an unwritten code of etiquette that cyclists observe.
11. Perhaps one thing that caused Ullrich to honor that code is the fact that two years earlier in the 2001 Tour de France, it was he who had suffered a bad crash on the thirteenth stage of the race.
12. At that time, it was Lance Armstrong who stopped the race, and waited while Ullrich recovered and remounted his bike.
13. With that illustration in mind, we should extend sacrificial love to others, because Jesus has already extended it to us.