'Never seen this before' – Dutch rider in tears after being blocked from race at World Championships
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Updated 13/10/2022 at 11:28 GMT
Great Britain won bronze in the women’s sprint on the opening day of the Track Cycling World Championships, but it may have been different had an administrative error not seen Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw miss out on the third-place showdown. She was pictured in tears after learning she could not take part in the race, watching from inside the track as GB claimed the bottom step of the podium.
Van de Wouw left in tears after being barred from medal showdown
Netherlands missed out on a medal in the women’s team sprint at the Track Cycling World Championships in bizarre circumstances on Thursday, after rider Hetty van de Wouw was substituted out of the team just moments before the start due to an administrative error.
Van der Wouw was pictured in tears after realising she would not be allowed to race in the bronze medal shootout with Great Britain in France.
“You can change your line-up in the team sprint up to half an hour before the start of the race. I’m not sure what’s happened,” said Joanna Rowsell on Eurosport commentary.
That left the Dutch trio of Kyra Lamberink, Shanne Braspennincx and Steffie van der Peet with barely a minute to prepare for the final with their new line-up.
“I’ve not seen this problem before, it happens all the time in track cycling," continued Rowsell, as it emerged the Dutch had submitted a wrong name on the team sheet.
"You change your line-up between rounds, it’s really common to use four riders over an event like this."
As Van der Wouw did not race in the heats, she would have missed out on a medal had the Dutch triumphed.
Ultimately though, the British trio of Lauren Bell, Sophie Capewell, Emma Finucane won bronze by just by just eighth thousandths of a second in a thrilling finish.
Germany grabbed gold ahead of China in a world record of 45.967 seconds.
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Stream the Track Cycling World Championships live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk
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