"As a cycling fan you would have to be crazy not to like this" - Niki Terpstra returns to the extremely windy 2015 Gent Wevelgem

Niki Terpstra was a guest of the Cycloo Wielercafé. The 39-year-old Dutchman returned to the 2015 Gent Wevelgem, the edition where riders were nearly being blown off their bikes and where Terpstra emerged as one of the strongest (and perhaps also luckiest) to finish second that day.

"As a TV sport this was brilliant," begins Christiaan Hoekstra. "I remember that I went cycling that day myself, so I put the race on television to see the start and then to see if there is room in the middle section to train myself, but I can already tell you, that I didn't cycle that day. It was a spectacle and the wind was blowing very hard there, but I thought it was truly heroic to see."

Read also

Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel spotted training side-by-side

"I was disappointed about that, because I thought it was a really fun race," says Terpstra. "Well on the edge of what is permissible and I don't even think so, because a lot of riders fell because they were blown over. If you see that there is so much wind, you should cancel the race anyway, I think, but the race directors on Radio 1 were dead serious: 'It wasn't too bad in the car!'"

"In extreme circumstances, the race director will always allow the race to continue, because that is guaranteed to generate a lot of viewing figures. At one point we come out from behind a house and the crosswind blows half the peloton over. It is of course very interesting at home, but there are a few with broken bones there, so maybe wind force eight is just too much. All in all it was fun and as a cycling fan you would have to be crazy not to like this."

Read also

George Bennett on his motivation to leave 'super teams' after nine years: "It was their vision of me versus of what I wanted to do that didn’t line up"

“It’s ridiculous how dangerous our sport is" - Quinn Simmons says UCI overlooking rider safety for minor issues such as new brake lever regulations