The cold of this Walloon Arrow is one that will be remembered for many years
The faces, the gestures, the amount of clothing, even in the final climb,… everything in this Walloon Flecha of unexpected winner transmitted an infernal cold.
The icing on the cake was the sequence of Mattias Skjelmose being carried by his assistants to the car…
Dantesque weather conditions.
Abandon du Leader of the @LidlTrek
M. Skeljmose 🇩🇰. pic.twitter.com/9T2LR8YeL9— William LALA 💜 (@willoo31) April 17, 2024
The image is very sad but it makes us wonder about the clothing provision that the cyclist madebecause others, not even in the most decisive moments, took off their warm clothes, when it is normal for the clothes to fly away once the final stretch of the race approaches.
The Walloon Arrow of 2024 has been an infernal exercise of what happens from time to time in the Ardennes, terrain fertile for days of extreme cold at random.
Running in very cold weather is horrible, you become totally clumsy, you don’t brake well, you don’t shift well, the sensation envelops you and neutralizes you.
I don’t want to think what these days were like those years in which garments, far from being technical, became freezing leads once they were soaked.
This Walloon Arrow enters directly into a cold list in which the one that Michele Bartoli won in 1999 could perfectly have been…
Monte Bondone stage in Giro 1956…
…an immense snow storm made the march to the neighboring mountain of Trento difficult. In these a Luxembourgish angel emerged from that frozen hell.
His name is Charly Gaul, and his goal is to maintain the cadence with the sole purpose of not being frozen. He arrived alone and shortly after crossing the finish line, he fainted.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 1980…
…Hinault’s big day at La Doyenne was apocalyptic. He won in the middle of snow corridors in the Ardennes.
The tejo gave a score to one of the 21 cyclists who finished the classic after starting more than 170.
Gavia stage of the 1988 Giro…
…the day always remembered when we talk about both concepts. A massive snowfall fell on the peloton the day this Dolomite colossus achieved legendary status.
Breukink achieved a stage that lifted Hampsten, equipped with ski goggles, to the pink lead.
Tour of Flandes in 1985…
….an unrecognizable Eric Vanderearden was inspected in front of Flemish TV after winning a freezing edition.
He was accompanied on the podium by Phil Anderson and Hennie Kuiper in the most terrible Ronde of modern times.
Les Arcs stage of the 1996 Tour…
….the Tour, due to its summer nature, rarely lives in icy environments.
The stage that saw the Indurain crash was a terrible scenario of cold and rain in mid-July that led to the suspension of the Galibier climb due to snow the next day.
Return to Valencia in 2005…
…after the suspension of a stage due to snow, the peloton headed into a Dantesque day where many arrived out of control.
Flecha showed that navigating such a hostile environment was easy for him on a day when many cyclists almost left the profession.
Image:
ASO/Gaëtan Flamme
2024-04-18 22:01:30
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