Swiss road race champion Nicole Hanselmann excelled to start the race, pulling ahead of the other women at around the 4-mile mark in a Belgian cycling race, was forced to stop after she caught up with her male counterparts Saturday, that's how dominant she is, and how outdated the idea of segregated racing has become

"The organization had to intervene because the leader of the women's race was getting too close to the convoy of the men's race. At that point the elite women's race was neutralized for about five minutes time. As soon as the safety was restored the women were able to continue, with respect for the previous time differences obtained during the race," it said.

Despite the men's and women's races starting in the same location, the organisers appeared unprepared when Hanselmann could see the last few vehicles from the men's race up ahead. In order to maintain a degree of organisation, they asked the Bigla rider to stop by the roadside and allow for a gap to naturally form between the two races.

"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 told Cyclingnews at the finish.

Moving forward, organizers will consider starting the women's race a "few minutes" later than this year's, according to the statement.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is a road cycling one-day race and the fourth event of the 2019 UCI World Tour.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicole-hanselmann-omloop-het-nieuwsblad-2019-cycling-race-men-belgium/
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hanselmann-forces-organisers-to-neutralize-womens-omloop-het-nieuwsblad/