LAHORE – The men’s and women’s races of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad started from the same location. A woman cyclist told how she was stopped so the men could catch up and it could be a neutral race.
According to Cycling News, former national road champion of Switzerland Nicole Hanselmann was leading the women’s race. However, due to a slow men’s race, she was stopped in her tracks.
She said, “We came too close to the men’s so we had to get a neutral time gap again so 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.”
Hanselmann added, “The race jury just said we had to neutralise the race because we are getting too close to the men. We could just see the ambulances of the men’s race. I think we stopped for five or seven minutes and then it just kills your chances.”
