“Du kan ikke købe dig til noget, du ikke er” – om aftalte resultater blandt danske cykelryttere

Abstract

Wind resistance is the primary external factor riders have to overcome in cycling. In order to share this burden members of opposing teams often cooperate e.g. to secure the existence of a breakaway. To avoid free-riders a tacit social contract of sharing the work-load is formed among the riders in question. Taking its point of departure in qualitative interviews with Danish elite cyclists, this article demonstrates how the social contract sometimes becomes explicit and an agreement of the podium placing is formed between riders in the final break-away before they arrive at the finish line. The article examines riders’ explanations of and attitudes to these arrangements, and it discusses to what extent the arrangements can be understood as match-fixing. While the available evidence suggests that the arrangement are best understood as an integrated element of cycling culture with a purpose of upholding a certain social order, the article also demonstrates how the social contract and the accompanying agreements implies a corruption of the sport in germ form. On this basis the article concludes that it is only the sport’s culture and individual riders’ self-discipline that can