Has a Bathroom Break Ever Cost a Cyclist a Race?

Two unwritten rules of professional cycling clashed earlier this month during the seven-day La Vuelta Femenina 2023 in Spain.

One rule says that contenders for the overall (general classification) title should not accelerate if an opponent — particularly the current race leader — suffers a minor accident, bike malfunction, or takes a bathroom break. The other rule says that if a team has planned to accelerate at a certain point in the race, then it shouldn’t have to abandon those plans because the opponent or leader takes a pee break.

During the sixth stage of La Vuelta Femenina, Dutch rider Demi Vollering of Team SD Worx had a five second lead over fellow Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten of Movistar Team. Approximately 36 kilometers (22.4 miles) into the 106.7-km (66.3-mi) stage, Vollering and several of her teammates and riders for other teams stopped for a pee break. They may have stopped so early in the race because live televised coverage had not yet begun.

At about the same time, van Vleuten’s Movistar Team and a few other teams began accelerating into a crosswind. Van Vleuten and others later said the move came at a point they had picked before the race began because they were familiar with the terrain. Meanwhile, race officials ordered the cars accompanying the race to pull to the side of the road, preventing the cyclists who had stopped from using the cars to draft back to the front.

By the time the stage ended, Vollering was 1 minute 11 seconds behind van Vleuten. Ultimately, after 740.7 kilometers (460.25 miles), van Vleuten finished the race in first place with a time of 19 hours and 11 seconds – nine seconds faster than Vollering. "If it hadn't been for that (pee break) I'd have won this Vuelta," Vollering said.

The unwritten rules of bathroom breaks in cycling: