Road bicycle racing
In multi-stage races, the GC leader will watch break-aways carefully if there is a rider close to him in the general classification. However often the GC leader will not react to a break-away. This happens if the escaping riders are a long way behind in the GC, and do not have a chance of taking the GC lead. Riders who are far behind often escapes because they want to win the stage or collect points for sprinting or climbing mountains. Riders may also go in a break-away to get television time for their team sponsors because the break-away often gets shown on the television coverage.