WATCH: French Cyclist Collapses in Exhaustion After Race at UCI Road World Championship 2021

The ongoing UCI Road Cycling World Championships saw a stunning moment in the women’s elite individual time trial event yesterday. French rider Audrey Cordon-Ragot felt the heat in Flanders, Belgium as she stopped midway through the event due to exhaustion.

Audrey Cordon-Ragot suffers exhaustion during time trial race in Belgium

The 31-year-old competed in several events prior to the World Championships in Belgium. Some of those events include the European Continental Championships in Italy, and the Ladies Tour of Norway.

Yesterday’s time trial event started at 2:38pm local time, with Argentine rider Fernanda Yapura going first. The remaining riders started their runs  90 seconds after the previous rider set off. At 3:01pm, Cordon-Ragot started her 30.3km run, which made her 16th on the start list.

Although she made a decent start, disaster struck the Frenchwoman midway through the race. With temperatures reaching 22 degrees Celsius, and humidity over 70%, exhaustion got to the 31-year-old. This made her pull over to the side of the road and collapse to the ground.

Following this incident, medics attended to Cordon-Ragot immediately as she struggled to catch her breath. Under such conditions, many would think the best thing to do is walk off the track.

However, Cordon-Ragot didn’t feature in that category, as she got back up and finished her time trial. The 31-year-old, despite this setback, finished in 16th place. She’s also slated to compete in the women’s elite road race on Saturday, September 25. However, her participation could be in doubt following this incident.

Ellen van Dijk clinched her second individual world time trial title

Dutch cyclist Ellen van Dijk put on a show for spectators in Flanders yesterday. The 34-year-old, who started just six minutes after Cordon-Ragot, stormed to the top of the timesheets with a time of 36:05.28.

The Dutchwoman beat Swiss cyclist Marlen Reusser and compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten, finishing 10 seconds ahead of the former.

van Dijk’s victory in Flanders was also her first since 2013, where she clinched her first world women’s individual time trial title.

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