The time trial course of the UCI Road World Championships was hit by a flood that was, in the words of one rider, "like a swimming pool." However, the decision to delay the start in order to remove water from the track surface was made only after the early starters had started warming up.

British Haley Simmonds, who started tenth from the start ramp, was already in the second half of the warm-up when she was informed by a UCI official that the start of the race had been postponed by 40 minutes.

"At that point I was caffeinated and trying. I had never been in a situation like that before. I honestly had no idea what to do," Simmons told reporters at the finish in Harrogate. [I called my husband, who is also my coach, and got advice from Bernie and Sarah Story. But I ended up warming up 1.5 times as much as I normally do.

"I'm an anxious rider before big events. I always work on a schedule. I plan, I time it, I write it down, and I work accordingly. The fact that they messed up my schedule has upset me a little bit. Once they postponed it, I wished they would have postponed it. Because I didn't know what to do or how to perform after changing my routine."

Simmons ended up finishing in 26th place and clarified that her power output was not due to her warm-up failure. If anything, she ran a little better than expected and could only attribute her disappointment in her results to excessive caution in the wet corners.

Still, she was angry that the situation had worked against her and expressed disappointment in the actions taken by the race officials.

"It was a really difficult decision and I feel for the organizers. The problem, in my opinion, is that the delay was communicated too late," Simmons said.

"Right after the U23 men's event, there was talk that it might be cancelled. They could have said, 'We're going to postpone it until [this point] and then we'll make a decision on whether to cancel or go ahead. ' To decide to postpone the event half an hour before it was to begin might have been a little too late. But I understand they were in a difficult position. I sympathize with them."

Early starter confusion aside, the race took place in less than extreme conditions.

"I think it was a good decision to delay the start and make the course safer.

"It was nothing special. It wasn't a super slippery surface like in Spain for example. The surface here is really rough, so as long as you have good tires and air pressure you're safe."

Two-time champion Annemiek van Fruten, who finished just behind in third place, said, "On the way to the start, there were still a lot of pools on the road.

"In the end, the rain didn't bother us. The rain conditions were the same for everyone, so there are no excuses."