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andyp
@WillMelling
Sounds like a terrible idea to me. It would take about, oh, one race before 'substitution doping' was being talked about. You can have back pain bad enough to stop you riding a bike and no scan or x-ray will show anything wrong. Same with your knee. How many tests would a substituted rider have to have? How many doctors would have to sign off? Or would it only be for visible injuries?
What if a team substitutes a time trialist for a climber just before the first mountain stage? Imagine the scepticism that would engender.
And it would break the lineage of winners, all future races no longer able to be compared with past ones.
Also I don't think riders carry on when they are injured from pride or commitment to the team, at least not mostly: they do it because at the end of the year a DNF is a DNF and it's a cut-throat, what have you done for me lately, sport. Seems to me they would be more likely to play down an injury if they knew the team had the choice to substitute them.
Then there's the riders being on stand-by for the Tour in case a sub is needed - how do you train for that? What would that be like for their season?
Lapartient seems to be trying to make his mark by solving problems that don't exist.