PRANKSTERS may have been responsible for sending cyclists down the wrong route and delaying a national cycle race as it passed through East Lancashire.

An inquiry has been launched amid suspicions that a race direction arrow was removed from a roundabout or turned to face the opposite way, sending almost 100 confused competitors in the 900-mile Prutour on a road to nowhere.

The event, sponsored by Prudential Assurance, ground to a halt as racers reached Waddington Fell in the Ribble Valley.

Bewildered stewards had to call back the leading riders and start the race again after the detour.

A location near Dunsop Bridge was chosen for the re-start and the original leaders were given a five minute 40 second start over the the racers who had taken the unscheduled diversion. Cyclists, including Britain's renowned racer Chris Boardman, have since said the organisers of the event should not be blamed. The event was passing through East Lancashire on a 116-mile route running from Manchester through to Blackpool.

Having crossed into Yorkshire and passed through Huddersfield, Halifax and Todmorden the race came into Lancashire using the A646 through Holme Chapel to Burnley.

Having passed through Burnley, the cyclists used Whalley Road to move into the Ribble Valley before passing on to Waddington Fell where the accident happened.

Race controller Alan Rushton said: "To be honest, we aren't entirely sure what happened and the police are investigating but a switched sign is one of the main theories."

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