Freezing Mol cyclocross sparks brutal post race scenes

One of the starkest moments came after the race when a hypothermic Wout Janssen of Cyclis Roofs4Energy VDP Cycling Team was seen in clear distress, grimacing in pain and needing help into the team camper as he tried to warm back up.

Janssen was far from the only rider who struggled. Winner Mathieu van der Poel admitted the cold shaped the entire race. “I’m getting warm again now, but I suffered from the cold today,” Van der Poel said. “It’s one of my favorite races, but in these circumstances, it was really hard. After a while, my hands and feet were so cold that nothing went automatically anymore.” 

He also described the specific sting riders dread at the finish when feeling returns. “I was absolutely freezing, but you know that when it warms up again, it really hurts for about five minutes. During the last laps, I was already thinking about that.”

Number two on the day, Toon Aerts echoed the same story. Still fighting the cold after the finish, he spoke about how it affected his vision and his ability to read the course. “In the last two laps I went cross eyed from the cold,” he said to the camera of Wielerflits. “Because of that, sometimes I couldn’t see the ruts.”

The European champion had matched the early pace with Wout van Aert and Van der Poel, but was forced to let them go just before halfway. At that point, he said, the cold still felt manageable. “But after the finish, in those wet clothes, it suddenly becomes an ice shell,” Aerts said. 

He also pointed to the damage caused by the conditions. “My brake pads were completely eaten away, so I went to pick up a new bike. But above all it was a battle against myself.”

On Saturday in Gullegem, riders are expected to face milder conditions, with no snowfall forecast.