Does he get the free lap?
During yesterday's P12 race a rider stops pedaling, slows, and unclips his right foot. From the follow vehicle we note that he can't unclip his left foot because his entire left crank arm has come away from the bike.
Ah, the things you see in a bike race.
Now that's a mechanical if there ever was one. Luckily for him the driver owns a bike shop and happens to have an 8 mm key behind his seat. You never know when you're going to need one, but if and when you do it'll be important.
He lost a couple of minutes getting the crank secured; and ultimately he DNF'd because he flatted. Just not his day.
So the question is: Does he get a free lap?
No, not at all. It was a road race, for one thing. And it wasn't an equipment failure. Reattaching and tightening the crank allowed him to continue.
Now suppose it was a criterium and the loose crank was an improperly installed replacement for a broken crank... Oh yeah, he'd get the free lap alright.
Torque specs
It seems highly likely that there was no torque wrench involved in initial fitting, or a pre-race check? Sounds like a SRAM groupset, so the specs are 425-478 inch pounds, with the lower measure being quite adequate.
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