Critérium du Dauphiné: runners suffer the wrath of hail

The climb up the Col de Porte turned into a nightmare for the bulk of the peloton this Thursday at the very end of the second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. A few minutes after Primoz Roglic's victory in the rain ahead of Thibaut Pinot, the riders had to deal with huge hailstorms.

A photo summarizes what the runners had to face. It was posted on arrival by Tim Declercq on his Instagram account. We see the back of the Belgian runner wearing multiple red marks, so many scars from the hailstones that fell on him. “As if the Dauphiné wasn't difficult enough for the legs like that,” commented the Deceuninck-QuickStep cyclist. Another shot taken a few hours later luckily showed those marks fading away.

If the favorites passed between the drops, a thunderstorm then erupted on the road to # Dauphiné with 15 minutes of massive hail. Impressive image of the back of Tim Declercq who finished under the flood like many other runners. 😳 pic.twitter.com/vvKDWrxt8s

"A road that looks like an ice rink"

Declercq is not the only one to have suffered the effects of this grape shot that fell from the sky. The B & B Hotels Vital Concept team posted a photo of the back of Frenchman Maxime Chevalier on its Twitter account after this "attack by a hailstorm platoon".

🤯 @maxxxchr attacked by a peloton of hailstones on the second stage of the @dauphine! 😱🌩

🙏 Respect guys. # Dauphiné l #ThereIsNoTry pic.twitter.com/iIcpeA9VLD

“It was complete chaos. The runners, hit by small icy ping-pong balls, ran for shelter, ”the Israel Start-Up Nation team told its Twitter account. “Within seconds the road looked like ice rinks and the cyclists were desperately trying to stay on their bikes or deciding to walk to the finish line. "

Within seconds the road looked like a ice rink and riders were desperately trying to stay on their bikes ... or to decide to walk up to the finish line on the ice ... #criteriumdauphine @dauphine pic.twitter.com/u5UN2SM43F

Arrival at Col de Porte 😨 # GoTotalDirectEnergie #Dauphine pic.twitter.com/VzpE1fS9Ls

For the German Tony Martin, the salute first took the form of an inflatable object handed to him by a spectator. Insufficient to protect oneself from the wrath of the heavens. The German ended up dismounting to take shelter under a tree. He finished more than 33 minutes behind his teammate Primoz Roglic.

At one point, the accumulation turned into floods and a guy like @ tonymartin85 had to find a new shelter ... Our own @ guyniv1 said: ”It hit me so hard ... Never experienced something like that .., just wanted to cross the line and get to the bus ... Crazy! ”@Dauphine pic.twitter.com/21BwHcGvNn