A Sunday bike ride from Milan to San Remo sounds like the stuff of movies.
We like to imagine Audrey Hepburn and her beau rolling dreamily through the foothills of Lombardy before sharing a bottle of chilled prosecco as the sun sets on the Mediterranean coast.
The reality: not so enticing.
For a start, it's 298km (185 miles) - an exceptionally long day in the saddle, even for the pros.
Secondly, the March weather in Northern Italy isn't all it's cracked up to be. In fact, it can be downright arctic.
Conditions on the two biggest climbs of this year's edition on Sunday were so inclement that they had to be left out altogether as race organisers bowed to the elements.
Riders stopped at the 117km (73 miles) mark and their times were - appropriately enough - frozen.
They then boarded buses and were taken to the restart some 50km (31 miles) down the course, before continuing on their way.
If you think they got off lightly, just look at some of these photos taken by David Millar (@millarmind) on the Garmin-Sharp team bus.
Left to right: Robbie Hunter, David Millar, Fabian Wegmann
Top photo: Riders reach the stop point at Ovada - RadioShack Leopard Trek (@RSLT)