An elite cyclist was forced to stop racing during an event in Belgium last week, after catching up with the men’s peloton ahead.

Nicole Hanselmann, 27, had broken away to lead the women’s race, around 30 kilometres into the annual Spring Classic competition, when she began to gain on the back of the men’s race – which had started eight minutes before her own.

At this point, officials from the event stepped in “for safety reasons”, and asked the former Switzerland road champion to pause at a level crossing while the gap was restored.

In a statement on Twitter, organisers said the women’s race had been neutralised due to “a very slow men’s race”.

However, Hanselmann later speculated on Instagram that perhaps “the other women and me were too fast”. In a post with the hashtag #womenpower, she described the incident as “awkward”.

The cyclist was allowed to resume the race after five minutes but ended up in 74th place, and blamed the delay for causing her to lose momentum.

This elite cyclist was stopped mid-race – because she was about to overtake the men