Pros’ pre-season training camps hampered as heavy snow hits Calpe

Eastern Spain hit by its worst winter weather in decades
Henry Robertshaw

While pro riders in Mallorca were able to continue training on the road when snow hit the island yesterday, riders on teams holding their pre-season training in mainland Spain have been less fortunate.

Heavy snow has hit Calpe and the Costa Blanca overnight, bringing much of eastern Spain to a standstill.

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The result was teams and riders struggling to get around, with training limited to time on the turbo in the hotel, rather than getting in the miles in the mountains.

However Katusha-Alpecin got lucky with the day they’d booked the local velodrome.

Meanwhile back in Mallorca, Trek-Segafredo riders were enjoying a well-earned easy day after training through the snow on Tuesday.

And elsewhere in Europe, organisers of the Critérium du Dauphiné were having to deal with tricky conditions as they surveyed the race route for 2017.

In northern Europe the roads looked clear, although Tom Dumoulin and Laurens Ten Dam decided to stick to their mountain bikes, fuelled by a big slice of apple pie.