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The top WorldTour cringe moments of 2020

Clips that make you say "ouf!"

December 20, 2020
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You never know what you’ll get when you tune in to a professional cycling race. Sometimes the riders stay together the entire broadcast and even the announcers run out of topics to cover. Other times, strong riders are getting dropped while there are breaks and crashes happening at such a rapid speed that it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on in all the excitement.

There are also other moments—not the joy of a victory or the stress of watching a crash—that fall into the category of just generally uncomfortable. These cringe-y 2020 clips will make do the grimacing face emoji (? ) and turn away from the screen with discomfort.

Hindley’s jacket issues

This first clip actually turned into a positive story in the end. A chilly 1.5km from the top of the Stelvio during this year’s Giro d’Italia, Sunweb Rider Jai Hindley was struggling to get his winter jacket on. The Australian swerved around in the incline, narrowly missing the wall and almost taking out Rohan Dennis and (eventual Giro winner) Tao Geoghagen Hart.

A good sport about the whole thing, Hindley, who went on to finish second in the GC, recently auctioned off a signed replica of the infamous jersey to support the Tour de Cure. When asked about the incident, Hindley said: “If I’m honest, all I was thinking of was ‘here come the memes’.”

Alaphilippe posting up too early

When Julian Alaphilippe celebrated his win too early at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Primož Roglič sprinted ahead and crossed the line in first place, beating a confused Alaphilippe. Luckily, Alaphilippe still has his 2020 world championships win to mentally smooth over his chaotic season.

Bad dino fan

It’s always fun to see fans dressing up to cheer on cyclists as they climb through the mountains (see Didi), but things can get awkward when these fans don’t know how to act. This dinosaur cycling fan had a good concept (cheer on riders in a COVID-safe costume) but poor execution. They got way too close to the riders and were pushed away.

Musette problems

When Bora–Hansgrohe rider Gregor Mulhberger tried to get rid of a musette during the Tour of Flanders, things didn’t go exactly as planned. A perfectly placed camera captured the embarrassing results.

Technically this was a crash, but he was fine and the comedy/cringe element of this unlucky spill warrants an inclusion on this list.