Danilo Hondo has experienced almost everything throughout his extended career but the 104th edition of the Milan-San Remo classic on Sunday will stick in the memory of the 39-year-old RadioShack-Leopard rider.

“Surely, the 2013 edition of the Milan-San Remo was no spring classic,” he told Radsportnews.de

Together with the rest of the freezing peloton, Hondo, who was 2nd at the Milan-San Remo in 2005, made it through the indescribable cold, the slush snow and temperatures hovering close to freezing point. “Layers of ice were forming all over our bodies and we could barely open our eyes,” was his description of the horrendous circumstances.

“The warm busses seemed like paradise to us, but we had to leave them and re-enter the freezing cold and the rain because the show had to go on,” said Hondo, who finished the race at 56th place.

Afterwards Hondo was highly critical of race organizers, RCS Sport, and their crisis management. “They were very badly prepared for this situation and for the second time within a short time span [after the Tirreno-Adriatico] they completely underestimated the situation. If we hadn’t reached our busses in Ovada, things would have been disastrous.”

Like the other participants of the Milan-San Remo, Hondo will now spend some days recuperating from the gruelling trials of Sunday’s race before racing again, this time in Belgium. “We’ll have to wait and see how long it takes to recover from this ordeal. Surely, this race has left an indelible mark on all the riders who made it to the finish line in San Remo,” said the experienced rider who will be at the E3 Prijs in Belgium on Friday.

Cyclingquotes.com will be bringing you live coverage of the race on Friday.