PRESIDENT of the TT Cycling Federation (TTCF) Rowena Williams apologised for a mishap which led to an Australian official helping TT cyclist Alexi Costa-Ramirez start an event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

There was a crash in the women’s 10K scratch race on Monday forcing the race to be stopped. After officials fixed the damage on the track the race resumed.

In a scratch race, a cyclist’s coach normally holds the bicycle of their athlete before the race starts.

The TT coach walked away from the start line while the track was being fixed and did not return in time for the restart.

In a video on social media, Costa-Ramirez was seen trying to get the attention of a TT official. The Australian official decided to help Costa-Ramirez and the race resumed.

Rumours circulated that no TT official was available to help Costa-Ramirez because they were taking a team photo at that time.

Williams, who said that was not the case, apologized for the incident.

She said, “From the cycling federation we do apologize because it might have looked like an embarrassing situation from the TT side, but it was not really a case of neglect for the cyclist.”