It was an epic day in stage five at the Tour of Alberta with a cold rain falling heavily and turning the 18 kilometers of dirt roads the riders had to traverse to mud. It took all the team’s resources, a full effort from each teammate, to get through the brutal stage in some of the toughest conditions imaginable.

With the last slippery and highly treacherous muddy road safely navigated, and a dangerous seven-rider chase group neutralized, Trek Factory Racing had everything under control. Only one rider remained in the lead: Lasse-Norman Hansen (Cannondale-Garmin), the last of the day’s six-man escape group, was solo with 1 minute and 20 seconds gap. 

Then the misadventure began.

The leading cars ahead of the peloton missed a right-hand turn and the riders dutifully followed them off-course.  With only seven kilometers to go, it was impossible to overcome the mistake. 

The decision was taken to grant the win to Hansen - who did take the correct route and had the satisfaction of crossing the finish for the well-earned victory - and neutralize the time gaps for all the riders, keeping Bauke Mollema in the yellow jersey and the overall classification intact.

One more rider who had the uncanny fortune to not go wayward was Laurent Didier. Didier, after pulling hard all day and his work finished was off the back of the peloton and just riding himself to the finish. As a result, he went the right direction and much to his surprise found himself crossing the line in second place. Although his time was neutralized along with everyone else, he did earn a trip to the podium, a nice consolation prize for "staying on course." 

“First of all the weather was just horrendous,” said director Kim Andersen. “But the riders didn’t complain, the whole peloton, they kept fighting the whole day and then in the end they make a mistake with the parcours. That was really, really shameful.

“I think when you organize a race like this you have to take into consideration if there is bad weather. I know that they already took many sectors away but this was really the limit – it’s not cyclocross what we are doing.

“The last sector was the bad one, first they were going downhill, and then they had to climb back up. The riders were really good sports about it all, they kept fighting. But then in the end to fight all day in these conditions and then have them directed off-course and have everything neutralized. That was really, really not good.”

At 206 kilometers, it was the longest race in the six-day event, and the predominantly flat parcours was destined for a sprint ending. That is, until the rain and cold created epic conditions and the peloton pedaling off-course in the finale.

“It took a very, very long time before the break went away, and when it was six riders it was good, we knew we could control that,” continued Andersen. “Then after the breakaway went everyone went back to the cars to change his clothing and that’s why the gap went up quickly to 5 minutes.

“Then I said, okay boys, we need to start pulling because Hansen is only 2’41’ back in GC and he’s a really strong rider, especially in this weather. I know him.

“After that it was never slowing down and Hansen did a fantastic ride. We were fortunate that Katusha did not have anyone in the break, so they help in the chase as they wanted to win the stage.  So it was under control until the last dirt sector, and after that seven riders went away and it took a while to get the numbers, again that is a little badly organized by the commissaires. When we found out there were four in there that were high in the GC, the boys closed it down.

“I have to say that the boys controlled everything super well today. They showed really good morale, they really did a great job. It was a long day today, seven degrees [Celsius] and always raining, just terrible weather. And they didn’t complain and pulled all day. They were superb.”