Women's cycling race forced to pause after lead rider catches men's race [View all]
Source: The Guardian
Women's cycling race forced to pause after lead rider catches men's race
Nicole Hanselmann made up gap on male racers
Mens race had set off 10 minutes before women
Alex Hess
Sun 3 Mar 2019 15.36 GMT Last modified on Sun 3 Mar 2019 15.39 GMT
A cycling race in Belgium was thrown into disarray when the leader of the womens race, which set off 10 minutes after the mens, almost caught up with her male counterparts and found herself in danger of being impeded by their support vehicles.
The Swiss cyclist Nicole Hanselmann of the Bigla Pro team surged into an early lead of almost two minutes in the annual Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race around the Flemish Ardennes, but her solo breakaway was cut short by a hasty request that she stop at the side of the road as the event organisers neutralised the womens race in order to restore the gap between the two groups.
After being allowed to resume, Hanselmann was given a headstart on the peloton but was quickly reeled in and eventually finished in 74th place.
It was a bit sad for me because I was in a good mood and when the bunch sees you stopping, they just get a new motivation to catch you, she told Cyclingnews. We could just see the ambulances of the mens race. I think we stopped for five or seven minutes and then it just kills your chances.
-snip-
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/03/belgian-cycling-nicole-hanselmann