Female Cyclist Forced To Stop When She Nearly Catches Male Racers After Their Head Start

A woman leading the pack of female cyclists in an annual daylong race in Belgium was ordered by competition officials to pull up when she neared the male racers who had been given a 10-minute head start.

The frustrating near-tangle of the sexes occurred as 27-year-old Swiss cyclist Nicole Hanselmann of the Bigla Pro team came up on the support vehicles for the men 22 miles into the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race, her team said.

Hanselmann was ordered to stop as the female cyclists were neutralized, in race lingo, so that the men could restore an interval ahead of them.

#OHNwomen

The race has been neutralised and come to a stop after 35km of racing, with @NicoleHanselmaa out in front. pic.twitter.com/YVgQN2K0uo

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#OHNwomen

The race has been neutralised and come to a stop after 35km of racing, with @NicoleHanselmaa out in front. pic.twitter.com/YVgQN2K0uo
Bigla (@BiglaTeam) March 2, 2019

Hanselmann, a former national road champion of Switzerland, had surged into an early lead over the rest of the female competitors of almost two minutes. When the 76-mile race from Ghent to Ninove restarted for the women, Hanselmann was given a head start but soon lost her edge. She finished 74th in the race after the frustrating stop-over.

It was a bit sad for me because I was in a good mood, she told Cycling News.

She added that when the bunch sees you stopping, they just get a new motivation to catch you. 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 .

She referred in an Instagram post later to the forced delay as awkward. She added, Maybe the other women and me were too fast or the men too slow.

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