It must have been horrible riding in such persistently wet conditions!
This was me at the start line when I rode this in 2006:
View attachment 700118
The weather was a bit different that year - the first afternoon was low-to-mid 30s temps and really muggy, then there were a few hours of torrential rain in the early evening, and the Sunday was dry and fine. I'm not proud to say that I got a nice sunburn!
View attachment 700119