The article. The snapshot is fairly accurate. She was catching up to the mens’ race support vehicles, they stopped her for five minutes. She lost her momentum and her groove, ended up finishing in 74th place.
And this article says perhaps the entire women’s race field was paused, not just the one cyclist in the lead. But anyone who’s ever done any sort of distance sport event, you know stopping for 5 minutes can absolutely destroy your performance. A mental and physical disruption.
The articles mention that the race organizers were considering starting the women’s race a few more minutes behind the men’s to mitigate this issue. Does anyone know if they stuck with that or did 2020 disrupt enough that this was forgotten about?
Wouldn’t it be good to rest after pushing so hard at the start of the race? That could actually create an advantage compared to people who didn’t need a rest because they were pacing themselves more. I don’t race though so idk
Imagine your whole body wants you to stop. It physically hurts. The pain is how your body is telling you to stop. You manage to somehow compel yourself to keep going.
Then you stop. Your body gets what it wants. And the pain hits and immobilizes you. No more rhythm to distract you.
Immediately the inertia is gone. You just wanna stop, know you can’t. Every moment of that waiting and knowing you have to continue is torment.
To be stopped when in such a good groove is going to be even more demoralizing.
The article. The snapshot is fairly accurate. She was catching up to the mens’ race support vehicles, they stopped her for five minutes. She lost her momentum and her groove, ended up finishing in 74th place.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/04/sport/cycling-women-belgium-intl-scli-spt/
And this article says perhaps the entire women’s race field was paused, not just the one cyclist in the lead. But anyone who’s ever done any sort of distance sport event, you know stopping for 5 minutes can absolutely destroy your performance. A mental and physical disruption.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicole-hanselmann-omloop-het-nieuwsblad-2019-cycling-race-men-belgium/
The articles mention that the race organizers were considering starting the women’s race a few more minutes behind the men’s to mitigate this issue. Does anyone know if they stuck with that or did 2020 disrupt enough that this was forgotten about?
I hope so.
Wouldn’t it be good to rest after pushing so hard at the start of the race? That could actually create an advantage compared to people who didn’t need a rest because they were pacing themselves more. I don’t race though so idk
Imagine your whole body wants you to stop. It physically hurts. The pain is how your body is telling you to stop. You manage to somehow compel yourself to keep going.
Then you stop. Your body gets what it wants. And the pain hits and immobilizes you. No more rhythm to distract you.
Immediately the inertia is gone. You just wanna stop, know you can’t. Every moment of that waiting and knowing you have to continue is torment.
To be stopped when in such a good groove is going to be even more demoralizing.
Yeah that 5 mins was a nightmare.
oof