I remember in one of his last wins, a rider from Spain (?) went down just in front of him and broke a bone.
To avoid the crash, Lance went off the road and down a steep hill full of dirt and weeds.
You could see in the video that if the crash had happened a few seconds earlier, Lance would have been riding down into a very nasty gulch, and most certainly would have gone over the handlebars into the rocks at 30+ mph....unless he had determined that going over the top of the crash was the better route.
Either way, the result would probably not have been good.
To avoid the crash, Lance went off the road and down a steep hill full of dirt and weeds.
I remember that and wondered how/why the TDF didn’t disqualify him because he crossed the land area and didn’t ride around the road. I know it took longer than had he rode but I’d have bet they would have disqualified him. He was lucky not to have had a tire issue then.
Lots of luck needed to win in that accidents, mechanicals, etc are possiblities.