"a sport performed by teams but won by individuals" exactly right. One doesn't exist with the other. I can think of no other popular sport with that dynamic.
In my experience with marathon kayak racing, it’s par for the course to cooperate with a team mate and then say “ok, when we hit 500 meters to go we’ll sprint and may the best man win”. But we are amateurs and don’t have contracts and sponsors and UCI points and DSes to worry about, we just do what we want.
"a sport performed by teams but won by individuals" exactly right. One doesn't exist with the other. I can think of no other popular sport with that dynamic.
In my experience with marathon kayak racing, it’s par for the course to cooperate with a team mate and then say “ok, when we hit 500 meters to go we’ll sprint and may the best man win”. But we are amateurs and don’t have contracts and sponsors and UCI points and DSes to worry about, we just do what we want.