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Belgian cyclist Jules Hesters went on the attack from the drop of the flag in Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem, but had already had an elevated heart rate hours before the race.
The Team Flanders-Baloise competitor began his day with a 7am start, but soon found himself in danger of running late.
He was unable to open his hotel room door in Ypres and was forced to resort to unusual measures to exit the premises in order to get to the race.
“Survived and ready to start @gentwevelgemofficial ” he wrote on a photo on his Instagram account.
“We had to come down with the ladder,” he said in an accompanying video. “Instead of a triple espresso, we only needed one to be awake.”
Hester’s elevated levels of adrenalin saw him kick clear from the start, but he was ultimately a non-finisher.
Given what must have been frazzled nerves on Sunday morning, few could blame him.
We hope his future escape attempts on race days will be of the more traditional variety.
