Guillaume Villeneuve was standing beside the road to cheer on the La Vuelta riders on Monday when the weather turned and almost the entire peloton rushed into his hotel.
“The storm arrived very strongly, very quickly, and the peloton threw itself into the car park, came inside and took over the establishment,” Villeneuve, manager of IGESA Village Club Mont-Louis Les Sorbiers, told RMC Sport.
The riders started the day in hot and sunny Gruissan before taking on a largely flat route to the Col de Mont-Louis and Font Romeu climbs. They had just gone over the top of Mont-Louis when the riders decided to dive into the hotel.
With two breakaway riders already farther up the road, moto commissaire and former professional Jean-Marc Marino directed the peloton towards the hotel. The stage was neutralised 16km from the finish and subsequently cancelled, leaving Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in the overall lead.
Villeneuve and the hotel staff opened the bar, moved the riders into the lounges and supplied coffee, tea, hot chocolate, herbal infusions – the lot. Towels were also handed out, while vacant rooms were opened for soigneurs to help the riders and for the riders to change into warm, dry kit.
Some riders showered or received massages. Others found the gym and began their active recovery.
“It was normal. We just did our job, although in completely unexpected circumstances this time,” Villeneuve said.
Riders thank hotel staff
Google reviews inundated the hotel’s page with names of riders, teams and cycling fans with a long list of five star reviews both kind and sincere as well as amusing.
Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) wrote: “Perfect location in hailstorms, and even towel service provided 2 minutes after 180 cyclist came unannounced. They deserve every star they can get!”
Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) kept his message concise: “What a warm welcome! Thank you so much!” William Barta (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) described the staff as “incredibly kind and helpful”.
Barta’s teammate Roland Thalmann (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) gave more detail: “Absolutely most friendly Hotel I ever saw. Well organised and even able to give free towel, drinks and food for almost 200 spontaneous guests.”
Team Picnic PostNL praised “a warm and welcoming reception area with friendly staff” and called the hotel “a pleasant place to shelter from any bad weather”. Fans joined in, helping the property reach a reported 877 reviews and a 4.9 rating, although the identities behind individual Google accounts could not all be independently verified.
Villeneuve said the hotel’s holidaymakers captured most of the photographs and videos because staff were busy looking after their unexpected guests. He thanked the riders in return, saying: “They were perfect, and I thank them.”
