Then no need to panic: the start of the girls’ cyclo-cross championships has been delayed by an hour due to ice spots on the circuit

She had a good eye on it, but the organization of the Belgian cyclo-cross championship in Heusden-Zolder was left cold by the freezing temperatures. Because the circuit was too slippery, the start of the Belgian Championship for the girls novices had to be postponed by an hour on Saturday morning.

What the organization dismissed as panic-mongering on Friday actually happened on Saturday: due to the freezing cold, the Zolder circuit was too dangerous to race on Saturday morning. The start of the BC for the girls novices, which normally had to start at 10 am, was therefore postponed by an hour.

However, the organization had assured itself on Friday that the freezing cold would not cause any problems. “There should be no one on that strip today (Friday, ed.) and on Saturday and Sunday morning we will spread heat granules on the asphalt. That is a proven recipe on the circuit. It’s all a bit of panic-mongering for nothing,” said organizer Golazo at the time.

However, on Saturday morning the situation looked worse than the organization had estimated. In the morning the mercury dropped to about -3 degrees Celsius and there was initially not much sunlight. In addition, it is also not allowed to use road salt, as the finish lane runs over the Zolder circuit and the usual road salt would be harmful to the asphalt of the circuit. The organization therefore tried with all its might to clear the arrival strip of ice in other ways.

(tm)