Elisa Balsamo is disqualified for sticky bottle at Paris-Roubaix Femmes
Elisa Balsamo is disqualified for sticky bottle at Paris-Roubaix Femmes
World champion Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) was disqualified from Paris-Roubaix Femmes for a sticky bottle as she returned from a puncture.
The world champion had punctured just outside 50 km to go and spent a long time chasing solo before joining up with a small group about 30 seconds off the peloton. Balsamo was seen rejoining the bunch after the Pont-Thibuault à Ennevelin, about 15 km after her wheel change, but moments later, news broke that she was out of the race, the commissaires ruling that the Trek-Segafredo leader had made “an irregular return after her mechanical”.
Balsamo’s puncture was naturally one of many suffered on the dusty roads between Denain and Roubaix. Her Trek-Segafredo teammate Ellen van Dijk had a long delay between puncture and wheel change thanks to her location mid-sector, the team car unable to reach her. Eventually, she received a wheel from a helper at the end of the sector, after which the European road champion had a long chase on her hands, but Van Dijk made it back in time to help the remainder of her team in the run-in to the finale.
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