From Gent-Wevelgem to Abu Dhabi, heat, snow, wind and rain
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Riders avoid getting their feet wet during a stage of the Tour de San Luis(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Geraint Thomas takes a tumble during Gent-Wevelgem(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Gert Steegmans picks himself out of a canal after being blown off the road during Gent-Wevelgem(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Philippe Gilbert wins a rain-soaked stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Can you guess who it is? Salvatore Puccio rides through the mist at the Vuelta a Espana(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Lukasz Wisniowski throws some water over him during the Abu Dhabi Tour(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Wout Poels cools down after the queen stage of the Tour of Oman(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Francisco Ventoso protects himself from the Oman desert(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Borut Bozic helps Vincenzo Nibali to safety ahead of the cancelled stage 5 at the Tour of Oman(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Snow during the Volta a Catalunya(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Gert Steegmans as he heads towards a canal during Gent-Wevelgem(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Echelons at the Tour of Oman(Image credit: Getty Images)
Alexander Kristoff feels the heat at the Tour of Oman(Image credit: Getty Images)
Snow fell at the Tour of Alberta, in August(Image credit: Getty Images)
Confusion at the Tour of Alberta leads Laurent Dider to ask where in the race he is(Image credit: Getty Images)
The road turns into a quagmire at the Tour of Alberta(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peter Weening cools down after stage 3 of the Tour de Langkawi(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alessandro de Marchi wins in the fog on stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The start of stage 5 of the Tour of Oman was moved due to a sandstorm(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
After the sandstorm came the heat and the riders argue with organisers before eventually cancelling stage 5(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tirreno-Adriatico's team time trial had to be cancelled after storms hit the region(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Riders enjoy the cooling spray of water at the end of a Tour de Langkawi stage(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Nairo Quintana won stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico in the snow(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Ferrari symbol on this Europcar Colnago is almost obscured by the snow(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tirreno-Adriatico was affected by the weather once again(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Peter Sagan wins in the rain on stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The road is one of the few things not covered in snow during this Volta a Catalunya stage(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Riders strewn everywhere during 2015's blowy edition of Gent-Wevelgem(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Mark Cavendish isn't too impressed by the weather at Gent-Wevelgem(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Vincenzo Nibali and Sep Vanmarcke split from their group during stage 2 of the Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Stage 2 of the Tour de France was battered by the elements(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
An exhausted Tony Gallopin after a scorching stage 10 of the Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rigoberto Uran shows some skin as he tries to keep cool during the Tour de France(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Adam Yates gets covered in mud during the Tour of Alberta(Image credit: Getty Images)
There were no shortages of extreme weather conditions sweeping through the peloton during the 2015 season. So much so that the UCI tested out a new Extreme Weather Protocol during several races, and then decided to add it the UCI Regulations at a two-day Management Committee meeting during the World Championships in Richmond, Virginia.
Some of the drastic weather conditions that the peloton faced during races this year began in February at the Tour of Oman, where stage 5 ended in an argument between riders and organisers over security concerns regarding the extreme heat, with riders claiming that their SRM showed readings of 50 degrees Celsius.
High winds blew through the field during Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde and Gent-Wevelgem, which were partially neutralized. The team time trial course at Tirreno-Adriatico was affected by rain and high winds that apparently damaged some of the roads, and the stage was altered to a shorter individual time trial instead. Later in that same race, Nairo Quintana won the queen stage 5 under snowfall on the summit to Terminillo.
At the end of the 2015 season, extreme weather hit the peloton again with heat at the Abu Dhabi Tour, with riders claiming it was upwards of 50 Celsius during the opening stage. The stage was eventually shorted by only 14.5km and the riders still raced the 159km, some four hours in the heat.
Check out the gallery of extreme weather that the peloton faced during the 2015 season.
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