Briton Noah Hobbs (EF Education-EasyPost), racing Omloop Het Nieuwsblad for the first time on Saturday, had to get help from a local man after getting lost after a puncture and mechanical.
“This guy picked me up and took me here. He’s a good guy. Without him, I think I’d still be somewhere in Belgium,” Hobbs said in a team video on Instagram.
“It was going well, and then I got a puncture. I came back, broke my front wheel, then went to go back, but I don’t know where I was. Then this guy helped me out and took me [to the finish in Ninove].”
Even seasoned professional cyclists go off-course sometimes during races, thanks to dodgy signage, missing marshalls or confusing traffic-calming road furniture, but truly getting lost while off the back of a race only happens to the most unfortunate riders.
Races have arrows at each intersection and course markings to direct riders and race vehicles around the course, but sometimes spectators take the signs down and keep them for souvenirs after the race passes, leaving riders with no cues.
Riders typically don’t carry cell phones during the race, and would have to rely on the kindness of strangers to find their way back.
In the days before cell phones and race radios during his first Milan-San Remo in 1985, American Davis Phinney was dropped from the race and then found himself stranded on an Italian autostrada asking for help at a toll booth.
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Fortunately, the vast majority of the time, pro cyclists remain safely within the confines of the race route.
Chances are that Hobbs won’t ever forget his first participation in Opening Weekend.
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