Heavy rain sent riders crashing into puddles with some suggesting race should have been cancelled
In Doha this weekend, the organisers of the World Athletics Championships had to start the marathon at midnight to avoid the punishing daytime heat. More than 4,000 miles away in Yorkshire, the UCI, cycling’s governing body, was having its own weather woes at its annual Road World Championships.
UCI is an organisation so unyielding that it dictates how high a rider’s socks can be. But on Sunday it accepted that Yorkshire’s relentless rain had won and shortened the men’s road race from 281km to a mere 261km (162 miles).