Well, I think the anime didn't do Rider's stand there as much justice as they could have. In the novel, he basically acknowledges it's a huge risk, but his chariot is so fast that he has a real chance of taking down Saber.
So it's not like he just made a suicide blitz and gave up. Saber was in legitimate danger, and it was only at the last second that he decided to bail out and sacrifice the chariot because it would have endangered Waver to push any farther. He sacrificed the victory to save Waver's life.
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