Chaos at the Critérium du Dauphine: a shower of hail surprised the drivers on the second stage
Photo: Vincent Kalut / imago images / Panoramic InternationalThe four-time time trial world champion Tony Martin and other riders were surprised by a hailstorm on the second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné cycling tour. While Martin (Jumbo-Visma) was able to get to safety on the final ascent to Col de Portet, Belgian Tim DeClercq (Deceuninck-Quick Step) had a hard time - on Twitter he posted a picture of his hailstones, the size of a golf ball, in green, blue and red Back.
"It started to hail about 1000 meters from the finish," said Martin at radsportnews.com: "I still thought I would get through. But 500 meters before the finish the grains got bigger and bigger and the whole street was white. Me couldn't go any further. A boy first gave me an inflatable mattress for protection. When it got worse, we all took shelter under a tree. "
The noble helper of the day's winner Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) stayed outside the time limit due to the break in the storm, but the jury was left behind. The top drivers like Roglic or Emanuel Buchmann were already at the finish line at the time of the hail chaos, the suspended professionals had to suffer. "As if your legs hadn't hurt enough already," said DeClercq.
Icon: The mirrorjan / sid