Have you ever heard the expression, "no means no"?
It's incredibly infuriating and patronising to be stuck with someone when you have requested to be left because they are 'a gentleman'. She's slower than you climbing, so couldn't ride away, and when she tried to be dropped you wouldn't leave her. You wouldn't have acted this way if she were a man.
While I agree in general, having felt like that on occassion, I think he did the right thing. You see, I stood right next to Elisabeth when she explicitly thanked Dave for staying with her. She thought she might not have made it to Champlon if he hadn't.
I argued with some guys a couple of years ago because they thought they could not let me ride through the night alone.
But, you see, I didn't tell them I was too slow and they should ride on, which is like: "I don't want to be a bother, but...", I told them I prefered riding at my own pace and could deal with whatever happened, too, so off with you. They get it if you tell them straight.
I (female) once stayed with a protesting wheel mate (male) because he was so exhausted with sleep deprivation he wasn't thinking clearly. I would have worried. Maybe it was patronizing, but I couldn't just ride off and let him be.
My personal thanks to Dave for installing a spork in my ride.