Video: Savage winds batter riders at Dutch Headwind Champs

This is what a lead-out at the Dutch Headwind Championships looked like yesterday; the breeze was absolutely nuts! (Photo: NK Tegenwindfietsen)

 

In Belgium yesterday the UCI Cyclocross World Cup was cancelled because of high winds, but the Dutch took the opposite approach.

They ran off the National Headwind Championships at short notice; selecting yesterday as the day for the contest precisely because they knew a gale was forecast.

And because they are a cruel and unusual bunch, they also ran the race along the Oosterscheldekering storm barrier.

It’s a spot where there is rarely a calm day and once the breeze is blowing at all it would cut you in half.

So while the cyclocross world was packing up in Koksijde, 183 hardy souls were battering their way down the 8.5km course in Holland while being lashed by a storm force gale coming in off the North Sea.

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The videos below capture the madness of it all, with individuals and teams battling it out for winners' prizes of just €100 in what is a new novelty event.

Teun Sweere took the men’s gold medal and Mathile Matthijse the women’s title.

Well known pro rider Johnny Hoogerland (Roompot-Oranje Peloton) was there yesterday and features in one of the clips below.

 

Proof the Dutch are cruel & unusual bunch!

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It was head down, arse up all the way for the riders in the event that involves a winner's prize of just €100, for the individual and team championships (Photo: NK Tegenwindfietsen)

 

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