The use of the cliché is exaggerated, but let’s go with the joke. After all, no one died: four days later, the images of Mattias Skjelmose’s abandonment on the Flèche Wallonne still send shivers down the spine. The Dane’s body, ostentatiously thin, transformed into a glass statue under the effect of the infamous weather, no longer responded. His body temperature probably dropped below 35 degrees, so it was trembling with the cold in the arms of a member of his team’s staff that the leader of the Lidl-Trek left the classic of which he was the big favorite. But Skjelmose came across something worse, in this case a cocktail of rain, hail, wind, snow and a sudden drop in temperature (from 14 to 5 degrees, with a feeling of zero). Pretty high on the scale of divine punishment.
“I could no longer control myself,” the runner testified to Global Cycling. I didn’t realize that I was hypothermic on the bike, I was shaking. » The kind of thing that happens in a profession where giving a big middle finger to pain and pushing your physiological limits are the keys to success. “In cycling you don’t give up,” recalls former runner Pierre Rolland. It’s not a sport where you tarpaulin, that’s what makes it beautiful. They are convicts of the road. »
“The Skjelmose, Ayuso, they are transparent. The cold passes through »
The example of the Flèche Wallonne has the merit of highlighting the extreme nature of cycling and reminding us that, well before the climbs, descents, cobblestones and other winding paths, the weather is the most feared enemy of runners . Here, it was the combination of two factors – cold and humidity – which made life impossible for the peloton. Climatic conditions which are inevitably reminiscent of the Giro 2023, in which François Bidard participated under the colors of Cofidis. “Of the first 14 days, I remember that there were 12 of rain. It’s really tiring for the organisms, especially in terms of recovery. » And it gets even worse as your fat mass tends towards zero, as demonstrated by the overall bankruptcy of the skeletons of the peloton on Wednesday, which are “below 6%” according to Bidard.
“ “Skjelmose, Ayuso, Hirschi, I had the opportunity to see them in the mixed zone. They are super sharp, transparent. The cold passes through. It is no coincidence that the slightly thicker-skinned Norwegians held up better on the Arrow. » »
Notably Soren Kragh Andersen, author of a superb solo raid while the leader of Lidl-Trek was carried around like a kid pretending to sleep.
A short clothing guide for cold/wet weather when cycling
Fat is life, but it’s not everything. Surviving the humid cold in the peloton is above all a matter of logistics. The most offensive rider in the history of cycling knows something about this, having showed up at the 2014 Giro with a mountain of anti-cold equipment. “I prepared rain gear that I was comfortable in, rain gloves… My suitcase was full of things for the cold and the rain, I was ready for any eventuality. »
You still need to use this equipment wisely during the race. “First of all, you have to manage to change on your bike,” warns the former Cofidis employee. You have to know how to put on a K-way obviously, but also how to take it off at the right time. The mistake many people make is stacking layers. But putting dry clothes on top of wet ones is useless. You must therefore remove the first layer, and put dry clothes on top. »
La Flèche wallonne ruled in favor of the prosecutors. Those who preferred to take cover even if it meant losing ground on the UAE, whose big acceleration on the first climb of the Mur de Huy coincided with the drop in temperature, survived the cataclysm. The others ended up as stalactites. And from there, good luck putting on a jacket. “The problem,” Rolland describes, “is that when you are wet and your hands are frozen, you can’t do anything. I’ve already had to stop on the side of the road to get dressed. »
Mutual aid is sometimes the last defense of runners tormented by the elements. We live together, we fuck together, bad boys forever. Huh, isn’t that it? “We feel more solidarity when there are complicated moments,” confirms the former Cofidis employee. When we see a guy struggling to put something in his pocket or put on his K-way, we’ll help him even if he’s not on our team. Last year, during the Giro, I found myself lending a K-Way to Maxime Bouet (Arkéa), it’s normal. There is more mutual aid in these circumstances. »
Skjelmose “in the shape of his life” two days later? Yeah
Barely recovered from the mid-week thermal shock, friend Mattias Skjelmose wanted to be reassuring. Not only will he participate in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but he swears he has recovered 100% from his mishap. “I can say, with my hand on my heart, that I am in the best shape of my life. Honestly, I believe I can be up there on Sunday and fight for the podium. » Knowing that to the guys he couldn’t beat on Wednesday, we must add Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel. This is audacious at best, unreasonable at worst.
“The cold can sometimes stay in the body for several hours,” analyzed sports doctor Kris Van de Mieren. at Sporza’s microphone. It is an attack on the organs that must regenerate. In fact, we only know what it really is several weeks after the effort. […] In 98% of cases, things get better after a few weeks. But we don’t know right away and there is never absolute certainty. It’s not always harmless. »
Pierre Rolland shares the doctor’s caution and goes even further. “If the weather is bad, his body will react even faster than usual, tense up and go into defensive mode. The body has a memory. If the weather is bad, he won’t be with the best in the final. » The weather forecast for this Sunday will be cool: 10 degrees like crazy near Liège, with a few showers and a strong north-east wind. No pressure though: to do better than Wednesday, the Dane will just have to not end up in the arms of his sports director.