The Explainer – Whether weather makes a difference

Dear Explainer,
Our morning group ride got cancelled this morning due to the blast of Arctic wind and snow that hit our part of the country this week. Fair enough. But as the guys who showed up for the ride hunkered down at our local coffee shop, the discussion turned to weather’s impact on the big races. Have there been cancellations due to crappy conditions? What triggers such a decision?
Robert L. Morgan
Chicago, Illinois

Dear Robert,
It really varies according to discipline, of course. Cyclocross racers are an inherently insane group of riders and they seem to flourish in the worst conditions. Slop? Bring it on. Rain? Perfect! Brutally cold? The 1999 world championships in Poprad, Slovakia, would convince anyone that ‘crossers are willing to ride in almost any conditions.

It takes a lot, too, to convince mountain bike racers and event organizers that it’s just too nasty out to ride. That said, the most recent example of a “rain delay” in mountain bike racing came this summer at the Beijing Olympics, when organizers postponed both BMX and cross-country events due to the weather.

Of course, anyone who’s had to ride on a wet surface on an outdoor velodrome can understand why those get cancelled at the drop of a hat … or at least at the drop of a (rain) drop. It’s also why we’re seeing the really great velodromes being built indoors.

But we’re guessing that you and your buddies are a group of hard-core roadies and your question my involve the issue of weather delays, cancellations and route changes in road cycling.

Over the years, we’ve seen more than a fair share of weather cancellations and route changes in even the biggest races. Probably the one that made us cringe the most in recent years was the decision by organizers to cut out a tough, tough finish at the Plan de Corones in the 17th stage of the 2005 Giro d’Italia. The final climb up the Plan de Corones had been specially prepared for the Giro that year, but conditions were pure crap at the start that day. As a result, organizers first cut out a climb up the Passo dello Erbe and then moved the finish five kilometers down the final climb. Unfortunately, by the time the peloton reached the finish, conditions had improved enough so it would have allowed us to see a remarkable struggle up the steep climb, but that would have required a rapid relocation of the finish line – and all of the hardware that is required to do that – so we had to wait another three years to see riders take on the 20- and 24-percent ramps of the road that reaches the upper slopes of a ski area.

There have been a host of stages and races that have been cancelled outright because of weather, usually because of snow. In 2005, riders who took on the first stage of the Three Days of West-Vlaanderen rolled off the line, but were pulled over by officials after about 50km because of snow. The day’s stage was completely scrapped, so that year the Three Days of West-Vlaanderen turned into the Two Days of West-Vlaanderen, with an icy training ride that counted for nothing.

Paris-Nice is often a victim of weather and while outright cancellations are rare, snow and icy rain have prompted organizers to change a day’s route at the last minute. That sort of decision even occurs in the summer during the Tour de France.

So what triggers that decision? Generally it’s common sense. The UCI rulebook doesn’t really have a specific weather policy, but it does have a few provisions calling for organizers and teams to take necessary steps to ensure that a race is carried out safely.

UCI rule 1.2.035, for example requires that “the organiser shall take whatever safety measures caution demands. The organiser shall ensure that the race may take place under the best material conditions for all parties concerned, riders, attendants, officials, commissaires, journalists, security services, medical services, sponsors, the public, etc.” (We really appreciate their mentioning their concern for journalists, by the way, but that doesn’t prevent them from sticking all of us in a press room full of second-hand smoke … but alas, I digress.)

Rule 1.2.061 also notes that an organizer has “a general duty of care” (that’s lawyer talk, which really means you better take those necessary CYA steps) to make certain that riders are not placed in “situations that could constitute a particular safety risk to anyone.”

Again, with no particular reference to weather, the rulebook also requires that safety issues be discussed at a team managers’ meeting at which point all parties present “coordinate their respective tasks and to take note of the specific characteristics of the event and safety measures as concern their own fields.”

All of those rules combined allow a promoter – or teams – to consider delays, rerouting or outright cancellation in response to weather conditions – or other factors – before or during an event.

Of course, all of that makes sense, but then again we’re also fans of watching our heroes fight through conditions that the rest of us wouldn’t even consider exposing ourselves to. You might remember that horrible, horrible day in the 2002 Vuelta, when heavy rains made for a miserable day of racing on a stage that finished atop the Angrilu. The wet roads and slippery conditions caused no end of crashes and prompted David Millar to fight his way to the finish, but quit the race in protest just a half-a-meter from the line.

Any long-time cycling fan will also remember 1988 Giro d’Italia when Erik Breukink and Andy Hampsten (a guy who grew up riding in North Dakota and Colorado) escaped over the Gavia Pass in conditions that would probably have triggered a weather cancellation these days. There was a reason La Gazzetta dello Sport dubbed it “The day the big men cried.” And while some of them were justifiably weeping, we were sitting comfortably in front of a television knowing for certain it was one of those days that would go down as one of the greatest in cycling history.

Anyway, Robert, we agree with the decision to delay that ride this week. We’d have gone to the coffee shop, too, especially when you’re trying to suffer on icy roads that haven’t been closed to traffic. Remember, feisty as he is, Hampsten wasn’t out there vying for space on those snowy roads with some latte-sippin’, cell-phone-yappin’ SUV driver intent upon scooping up the latest bargains at Walmart. That’s really dangerous.

Be careful out there and have a Merry Christmas.

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Charles Pelkey

Charles Pelkey joined VeloNews in 1994 after serving as press secretary for former GOP Whip Alan K. Simpson in the U.S. Senate. Pelkey has worked as a journalist since 1985 and held a number of editorial positions at VeloNews including Senior Editor of VeloNews.com. Pelkey earned a JD from the University of Wyoming College of Law and lives in Laramie, Wyoming, with Diana, his wife of 25 years, and their two children, Philip and Annika, whose presence serves as a constant reminder of what really matters. Pelkey left VeloNews in July, 2011, but continues to be a regular contributor. Charles can now be found at liveupdateguy.com

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