Video: Chaos as mud and slope get better of cyclo-cross riders

Chaos hit Sunday’s Pan-American Continental Cyclocross Championships in Cincinnati on Sunday when riders on the opening lap of the first race found it near-impossible to get through one section of the course that they hadn’t had a chance to preview.

The scenes at the Under 23 women’s race were caught on camera by Geoff Kabush, who posted the video to Facebook which shows riders unable to get any traction as they went through a muddy section of the course, the camber causing them to slide downhill to the barriers on the left.

In a comment to the video, one of the riders, Ellen Noble, confirmed that the section of the course in question hadn’t been included on the warm-up lap.

She explained: “In our defence we didn't know this would be a feature until we got to it. Absolute carnage while the mud was still slick!!!”

Another commenter, JoAnn Santos, said: “Most of those girls didn't even know that was added.

“We watched as they were putting it in while the girls were being called to staging. Really not sure what the point was,” she added.