http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/eritrean-lost-during-e3-harelbeke-took-15-hours-to-complete-course-218429
Eritrean lost during E3 Harelbeke took 15 hours to complete course
Simon Collis March 26, 2016
Mekseb Debesay forced to rely on kindness of strangers for food and fresh clothes after taking a wrong turn during Belgian one-day race
Eritrean Mekseb Debesay of team Dimension Data lost his way in the E3 Harelbeke in Belgium yesterday, spent 15 hours on the road and resorted to a stranger’s help for food, shower and clean clothes.
Sky’s Michal Kwiatkowski won the one-day WorldTour race ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff). Sky’s Ian Stannard attacked the chase group to take third place.
Meanwhile Debesay, 24, wandered the Flemish back roads in desperation.
“It’s an amazing story,” team sports director, Pierre Heynderickx told Het Nieuwsblad newspaper. “He fell behind a small group that decided to take back roads to Harelbeke around 20 kilometres from the finish. Debesay was afraid of becoming lost and decided to follow the course arrows to get to the finish. Unfortunately, he wandered from the correct path.”
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Debesay won the Tour d’Algérie and the Tour of Eritrea before signing with Dimension Data ahead of 2016. The E3 Harelbeke marked his first WorldTour race, and it was one he will not forget.
He reached 206 kilometres on his computer, the race distance, but still had not arrived in Harelbeke. He turned to one of the many fans on bicycles riding along the same roads.
“‘Please, where’s Harelbeke?’ he said. That man suggested that they should go together to his home in Lierde,” Heynderickx added. “He let him take a shower, gave him fresh clothes and offered food to our hungry rider.”
His team left for the Mercure Hotel in Roeselare, but were worried about their last man. Heynderickx called the police, the UCI’s race jury and the organisers.
“No one had any idea where he was. Then, suddenly, we received a phone call.”
Debesay covered around 240 kilometres and, 15 hours after he left, returned to the team’s hotel base in Roeselare.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/debesay-gets-lost-during-his-flemish-debut-at-e3-harelbeke/
By Cycling News March 26, 2016 11:38am
Updated: March 26, 2016 11:38am Race: E3 Harelbeke
Dimension Data rider Mekseb Debesay arrived at his team hotel several hours after the conclusion of E3 Harelbeke after becoming lost and disorientated during the final kilometres of his first ever race in Flanders.
According to a report in the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, the 24-year-old Eritrean rider got into trouble after pulling out of the race with 20km to go, as Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) prepared their decisive attack. He became lost as he tried to ride to the finish and was helped by a friendly Flemish cycling fan, who invited him to his home, allowed him to shower, gave him some food and eventually called the team’s hotel on Roeselare. Debesay eventually got back to the team hotel at 9pm, four hours after the finish of the race.
“It's an amazing story," Dimension Data directeur sportif Pierre Heynderickx explained. "This was his first race in Flanders. He was behind in a group that decided to take the back roads to Harelbeke with twenty kilometres from the finish. Debesay was afraid of getting lost and so decided to follow the arrows on the race route to get back to the finish. Unfortunately he strayed from the right route. At one time he had 206km on his computer but the race was only 200km long. He didn’t make it to Harelbeke.”
"Eventually he asked a spectator for help, saying: Please, where is Harelbeke? That man suggested they ride together to his home in Lierde. He then let him take a shower, gave him clean clothes and offered our hungry rider something to eat. Of course the team very worried. I had already informed the police, the UCI race judges and the organization but no one had the slightest trace of him. Until suddenly we got a phone call at the Mercure Hotel in Roeselare.”
Received on Sat Mar 26 2016 - 12:31:42 EDT