Female Cyclist goes TOO FAST in breakaway, almost catches MEN'S GROUP, so... Organizers 'neutralized' her event?

Are you saying with certainty she was adhering to a team tactic? This quote makes it seem like she felt good

“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 men’s race. I think we stopped for five or seven minutes and then it just kills your chances.”

But like you said, I know nothing about this so maybe that's not what she meant. Or she was trying to be evasive about the team tactic. Or something was lost in translation.

Only ten minutes between starts is absolutely ludicrous; the race organizers knew full well that this overlap could happen. Given the hysterical "equality climate" one would not put it passed them to stage something like this to create a certain kind of media headline.

Poster #123 wrote:

Are you saying with certainty she was adhering to a team tactic? This quote makes it seem like she felt good

“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 men’s race. I think we stopped for five or seven minutes and then it just kills your chances.”

But like you said, I know nothing about this so maybe that's not what she meant. Or she was trying to be evasive about the team tactic. Or something was lost in translation.

Just about every team besides the ones with the big favourites would tell a couple of riders to try to get out early if they feel good and the opportunity is there. It's not some sort of secret tactic. A lot of the time they do it simply for time on the TV.

trollism wrote:

kokoro wrote:

No, neither should have been cancelled. The race organizers should have just considered the men's race to be part of the 'terrain' for the women's race and let the woman breakaway rider draft off of the men. Then they could change start times in future race editions accordingly.

Have you any idea just how much traffic there is for a big World Tour classic like this? If you let two separate races merge like this there would be absolute chaos.

I do have an idea. Note that this was one rider on a breakaway. If she were to catch the men and draft, maybe she could have maintained; it's not at all necessarily the case (as you're suggesting) that the two races would entirely merge (which would certainly be chaotic).

But, there's no good solution - the real problem was on behalf of the race organizers for starting the races too close to each other. Next year I'm sure they'll do better. But in this case, I'm suggesting that letting this rider break away to the men's group is a better option than shutting the race down for a few minutes.

You can't let her join the men's group. That would be outside assistance. It's a separate race. That would be like a guy breaking away and latching onto a vehicle to draft.

kokoro wrote:

trollism wrote:

Have you any idea just how much traffic there is for a big World Tour classic like this? If you let two separate races merge like this there would be absolute chaos.

I do have an idea. Note that this was one rider on a breakaway. If she were to catch the men and draft, maybe she could have maintained; it's not at all necessarily the case (as you're suggesting) that the two races would entirely merge (which would certainly be chaotic).

But, there's no good solution - the real problem was on behalf of the race organizers for starting the races too close to each other. Next year I'm sure they'll do better. But in this case, I'm suggesting that letting this rider break away to the men's group is a better option than shutting the race down for a few minutes.

She only had two minutes on the peloton which implies that the entire women's race was on course to catch in the very near future. Once she'd caught the men, the rest of the women would already be practically 'in the cars' of the men's race, which would definitely not be a good situation.

Women's cycling often fails to perform correct tactics.

http://twitter.com/rachelvmckinnon/status/1102547270854197250

trollism wrote:

Poster #123 wrote:

Sounds like a female cyclist who didn't understand her limits (going out way too fast given her eventual placing) nearly screwed with the way the organizers intended to have the race run by almost catching the slowest of the men's group. Think she'll learn someday about even pacing and maybe place better?

Sounds like you've never watched a pro cycling race in your life.

It's more like the gap between the races was too short and circumstances led to them coming together.

You're both right. But for different reasons.

The race history has always had the women starting 10 minutes after. This is a story created by someone with no understanding of cycling, and blown up by more people who have even less understanding.

Neutralizing a race is a common practice. Happens frequently for different reasons. Crashes, road conditions, weather conditions etc.

In this case the women's race is 120 km long, and the mens is 200 km long. You might expect one race to be going a little faster, but not really. They ran the men's 200 km race in 4.53 hours, the women 120 km was 3:35. The men averaged just over 40 kmh. The women averaged 33 kmh. There should have been plenty of room.

In this case the girl who to went out on a solo break, didn't catch the peloton, she caught the ambulance at the back of the cars. There was a rider lagging getting medical attention. She was likely a good half mile back from the lead men.

She only caught the back of the parade due to her going out way to fast.

She was looking for the TV coverage, not the win.

Low level riders try to get in a break and get extra TV time / advertising for their sponsors. They then fade back into obscurity. In this case she got a lot more than she expected. And she finished way back in the pack.

Nothing to see here.

I've watched a lot of amateur races with multiple categories. They tend to start the open cat 1, 2, 3 races earlier and then the masters races. But many times, the masters racers are more cohesive and the peloton goes faster and catches the young guys who haven't been racing with each other for 10+ years.

But they neutralize the race getting caught until the racers in the break have cleared the front of that race.

A break goes out in every race either solo or in a group. The women were obviously racing faster than the men and they should have been neutralized. Not her.

Did anyone check to see if it was that dude Rachel McKinnon rather than a woman? Maybe he forgot himself and was trying to race with the men.

Why should the teams have all kinds of cars along with them anyway? That promotes cheating and is dangerous.

Let them ride with any spares they need and make them do it themselves.

Instagram: nicole_hanselmann

Today was the first spring classic in Belgium. I attacked after 7km, and was alone in the break for around 30km...but then a awkward moment happend and I almost saw the back of the men's peloton... May the other women and me were to fast or the men to slow

http://www.instagram.com/p/BuhmXSzncxe/

She's cute.

"In this case the women's race is 120 km long, and the mens is 200 km long. "

I am so completely confused. Women are demanding equal pay for equal work but the men are forced to travel 40% further? That doesn't sound equal to me. The transgender abnormal men cycling in the women's race should be outraged.

Lots of ignorant claims about this race because the media and people have found a supposed story that fits their narrative and don't bother looking into facts and details. Since this is a running site and most are ignorant of cycling tactics, that is somewhat understandable, but let me enlighten some of you...

As another poster pointed out, the women were racing 130 km, the men 200 km. At no point in this race were the women "racing faster". At the time when the "VEHICLES" at the back of the men's race were being overtaken, there was a breakaway in the men's race that had a 14 minute gap over the men's peloton. So the lead men in the breakaway had increase the 10 minute gap they had over the bulk of the women by 4 minutes and over Hanselmann by 2 minutes. The men's race was spread out over a distance of around 10 or so miles. The bulk of the men's peloton was "soft pedaling" at this time, but they would eventually drop the hammer and erase the 14 minute gap. The final results show that the men's race averaged 25.4 mph for 200km and the women averaged 22.8 over a distance that was 67km shorter.

Yes, the organizers are at fault for having too small a gap between the two races. But no, the women were not racing faster and the men's race should not have been neutralized. This was a spring classic and takes place on very narrow cobblestone roads, the vehicle caravan behind each peloton can stretch for miles, it would have been an utter cluster to let the women ride through this or attempt to neutralize the men's race. Anyone who has been on these narrow European roads these spring classics take place on would understand this.

If you want to verify anything I've stated, here are links to recaps of both races:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/omloop-het-nieuwsblad-elite-women-2019/results/

and

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/omloop-het-nieuwsblad-elite-men-2019/results/

^^women's race was 123km, not 130km as I stated above...

Poster #123 wrote:

If I'm reading correctly, she had a nearly 2 minute lead by 7km in the race and faded to 70th.

You're absolutely correct, I've never seen one of these in my life. Is this common? Is it a good strategy? Relating it to my experiences as a runner I can only come to the conclusion that she's not bright.

So basically the key ingredient here that if you don't know cycling you won't really be familiar with is effects of drafting. So what happens is that when you're in a group on flat there is a massive draft. Would be like if the people at the front of a race are running 4:00 pace and you're back in the pack you're running 7:00 effort or even 12:00 effort in some situations.

So the reason she gets a gap is she makes an attack, and basically the peloton (main pack) let's her go. They could chase here down easily. Imagine in running the guy goes to the front and does 3:00 mile pace for 30s, then he goes to back where it's like doing 6:30 pace. Then next guy does 3:00 pace for 30s and repeat. Could go for hours at 3:00 mile pace. El G couldn't even last a 1/4 mile out on his own.

So she gets that gap because race "lets her go". Why? Because if their is no breakaway, lots of riders want to be in it and try to shake up the race. Many of the teams will have a sprinter, who wants everything to be nice and chyll until the finish. So if their is no breakaway, there are constant attacks and moves of riders hoping to get away. Lots of accelerations, surges, and aggressive + more dangerous racing. However, if the peleton let's a breakaway go and it builds up say a 5' or 10' lead...then that's a gap of multipe miles. No more riders attack, because a single person isn't going to bridge across a 10' gap on their own. This makes for a tranquil race most of the way for sprint oriented teams, and then towards the end the peleton starts to work very hard on the front and quickly reels in that gap and catches the breakaway sometime near the finish, ideally inside 10km. At that point, the pace is kept stupidly high (like sub 3 mile pace) to make it so nobody else bothers attacking.

So, the mens race was dawdling, which can happen, especially early, because there might not be a good place or time to attack and you'll just waste energy. It also makes no sense to go do 4:00 effort on the front with the whole peleton, because you wear yourself out while everyone else goes at a "jog". So the race is slow. The female out in the breakaway is going full gas, and like in running a female running 5:30 pace can easily catch a group of elite males out for a recovery stroll.

Runners jog for 3/4 mile and sprint the last 1/4 mile

Cyclists "jog" for 90 miles and "sprint" the last 1/4 mile/

I notice that neither she nor her team are even slightly upset by this. Tells me it's perfectly normal and the media are being nitwits. Maybe in the past, an allied men's team has dropped riders back for a lead girl to draft from.