The Volta a Portugal is currently taking place and a couple of riders have been forced to abandon the race in the opening stages due to heat stroke. Temperatures have been reaching the mid-40s in the past few days with predictions of a record European temperature being set over the weekend.
Europe’s weather warning group, Meteoalarm, has issued red warnings, which is categorised as very dangerous and posing a risk to life for much of southern Portugal.
On the opening 191.8-kilometre stage of the race from Alcácer do Sal to Albufeira, Portuguese rider Joaquim Silva (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) abandonded, with his team confirming that he was suffering from heat stroke.
On the following day, Danish rider Louis Bendixen was a non-starter on stage 2 from Beja to Porto Alegre. He later confirmed that his withdrawal from the race was also due to heat stroke.
Bendixen tweeted: “Sad to leave Portugal. Dehydrated I was stuck at the Antidoping control for 3hours with no food but water. After just being able to hand in my pee sample, my body completely shut down and collapsed. Spent the night in the hospital suffering from a heat stroke and kidney failure.”
Local fire departments have been providing showers for riders to ride through in various towns that they pass through but additional measures will need to be taken to ensure that there are no further serious health issues for riders.
The CPA (Cyclistes Professionnels Associés) have said that they will ask the race organisers to apply the extreme weather conditions protocol. The CPA tweeted: “The organizer is responsible of the #security and #health of the riders and can not let them ride in terrible conditions. All riders must have the same rights and treatment for the #EWP @UCI_cycling”
The UCI developed an Extreme Weather Protocol in 2016 which includes extreme temperatures as one of the weather conditions. However according to UCI regulations, the Extreme Weather Protocol “shall be applied in UCI WorldTour and HC events” and “all other road cycling events are equally recommended to refer to the procedures set out in the Extreme Weather Protocol when appropriate.”
With high temperatures throughout Europe, the CPA have announced that Iker Camaño will be the CPA delegate and Extreme Weather Protocol rider representative at Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian and Bartosz Huzarski will be the representative at Tour de Pologne. However, there is no indication at the moment that there will be a rider representative at Portugal.
