7 flats/28 riders on the Tour d’ FredDiego.  The Mexican had 3.

L’UberFred insisted the flats were patch failures.

In defense of one of the principles of the Zen of Cycling [i.e., tube patching] and based on sound, scientific observation [i.e., the Mexican takes notes], properly patched tubes experience fewer failures than new tube failures [i.e., new tubes that burst upon their initial inflating].

After the ride, back in the lab, all three flatted tubes were rigorously inspected, and it was clearly  evident each flat was due to a new puncture and not a failed patch.

One flat [the tube pictured on the left] was caused by a pot-hole that created a snake-bite* puncture.

The Hobo don’t believe in repairing snake-bites [déz be voodoo punctures].  This tube had a lot of good life left in itself; after all, it only had 4 patches.