It's a joke when someone jumps all over a pro and other people jump to the pro's defense by saying something to the effect of "until you are as good or fast as that person be quiet." if one could only criticize pro athletes (not just triathletes) if they are as good as the pros, then every newspaper sports section, tv sports show and radio sports show would be eliminated. people have every reason to rip on stadler for either not knowing how to fix a flat or not carrying a spare tube with him. people also have every reason to rip on lessing for bailing last year when he clearly wasn't blown up (we all saw the pictures of him hanging out on the side of the road looking like he was chilling out with a margarita in hand). everyone also should bow down and sing the highest of praises when these super studs put up crushing performances (eg, stadler last year or lessing in god knows how many other races). if you want to compare this to work for most people, then stadler's bailing over flats would be similar to someone walking out of work when his/her secretary put 1 instead of 2 sugars in his/her coffee. that was not a case of a pro bailing to avoid serious damage and screwing up the next 6 months of races.