IT brought parts of Glasgow to a standstill with road closures the norm.

But the disruption predicted for Sunday's European Championships cycling road race did not go down well in some quarters, with one senior Anglican minister saying it was "hard to justify" because watching cycling is a "minority pursuit".

Hundreds lined streets to cheer on riders for the women's road race which wound its way through several major residential areas and various Glasgow landmarks like Kelvingrove Museum and George Square.

And residents were warned to expect some disruption this week as the Games take over the city.

Diversions were the order of the day for Sunday's race, and parts of Glasgow ended up gridlocked for the race.

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But the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, a prominent clergyman in the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church of England’s sister institution was among those who were less than impressed.

The provost who runs St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, said: "I don't have any objection to people going cycling. Watching people cycling seems to me to be a minority pursuit and the current pictures of Glasgow back me up on that. Closing the streets for these races is inconvenient and hard to justify.

"Strange turning the TV on and seeing the cycle racing taking place in nearby streets. Those streets almost deserted, as is the track near Glasgow Green. Glasgow clearly not that interested.

"Looks to me as though the city would have been busier without the races."

And there were complaints to Glasgow City Council about the diversions One said: "The diversions on the Clydeside, in the vicinity of St Enoch are disgraceful. I followed the diversion signs in stop/start traffic for 30 mins, only to end up back down on the Clydeside where I started!"

Andrew Dickson had a similar story, tweeting: "@GlasgowCC you're simply incompetent. The city centre is shut off and all the diversion signs lead to more closed roads. Twenty five minutes spent circling the city and eventually when you get to a road that's not closed it has roadworks."

Duncan Alexander-Russell, the owner of Edinburgh's Botany Studio remarked: "Taxi drivers in Glasgow today are all moaning about the road closures for the cycling championship – none of whom bothered to look up what the road closures actually are."

John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister declared: "Thank you Glasgow for a wonderful day. A fabulous road cycling event and festival at Glasgow Green." A Glasgow 2018 spokesman declared that the road race was a "fantastic spectacle which showcased Glasgow to a European and international TV audience.

"It was fantastic to see people coming out to cheer on the elite cyclists from across Europe, with thousands of spectators welcoming them across the finish line at Glasgow Green," the spokesman said.

And a city council spokesman added: “A major event such as the cycling races during the European Championships will inevitably involve some road closures to both allow the racing to take place and to allow fans of the sport the opportunity to see some of the finest riders on the continent on the city’s streets. "The road closures were published by the event organisers in advance of the racing to advise road users of changes during the championships.”

There have been warnings of further disruption and road closures when the cycling time trial event takes place on Wednesday.

It is said that it is likely to cause "significant road disruption" across Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire with the biggest impact felt during morning and evening peak hours - 7am to 9am and 4pm to 6pm.

Royal Mail has warned that even post may be affected in several areas due to road closures.

Kirkintilloch Road and Springburn Road are included in the track, along with numerous routes beyond the city boundary.

Parking restrictions will be in place on both roads from 4pm on Monday to allow the course to be built, and remain in place until Wednesday.

Road closures are in place from 2am on Wednesday with a phased reopening beginning from 6pm until 9pm, when all roads should be reopened.

Sunday's road race was not without incident. A crash between three competitors halted the bike trials.

Frenchwoman Juliette Labous, Valerie Demey of Belgium and Norway’s Stine Borgli all went to ground in the middle of the race.

In the end Italian Marta Bastianelli won a sprint finish with Marianne Vos to strike gold in the road race.

The Dutch team seemed to be controlling affairs at the end of the 130km race, ready to set up victory at the Glasgow Green finish for Vos, only for former world champion Bastianelli to beat her to the punch with a final burst.

Vos, often hailed as the greatest woman cyclist in history, took silver at the end of nearly three and a half hours of racing on the undulating nine-lap course.

"It's a very hard race, and this win is for my team, because my teammates stayed with me from start to finish," Bastianelli said.

"The sprint was very hard but I think it was very technical. Yesterday we said we had to be top three in the last corner. It was crazy, because it was very hard and fast. I don't know how many kilometers per hour it was but it was very hard."

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The Herald:

Elsewhere, Stirling's Duncan Scot was part of the British team took gold for Britain in the pool, this time in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay.

He had earlier claimed a silver medal for Great Britain behind Italian teenager Alessandro Miressi in the men's 100m freestyle.

Scot Harry Leask and Jack Beaumont claimed bronze for Britain after being held off by the Romanian crew in a tight finish in the double sculls at the European Championships in Glasgow.