Australian cycling champion Ruby Roseman-Gannon claimed her first WorldTour triumph, winning the final stage of the Tour of Britain after a rival blew the chance of victory by celebrating too early in a bizarre finish.
The 25-year-old Melbourne star, who took the Criterium and road racing titles at the national championships, simply couldn’t believe it when her rival Christine Majerus sat down just before the finish at the end of the race and raised her arm in triumph, believing she had won.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: The Australian wins after a cocky act backfires at the finish line.
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But it was a calamitous miscalculation when Roseman-Gannon stormed through wet conditions on the stage around Greater Manchester to overtake the Dutchwoman for victory by less than half a wheel.
“I still can’t believe I won that; it’s my first European win and I’m still in shock,” smiled Roseman-Gannon.
The Australian later had to consult with her opponents and officials to find out if she had really prevailed.
“It’s when you don’t really expect it, in some races you come in as the leader and you have a lot of pressure, and in other races you come in and everything goes well,” Roseman-Gannon added.
“Today I was quite worried about the rain and nervous about the possibility of crashing and I didn’t really have the right mentality that I was going to win the race, but winning is incredible. Overall it was a great race!”
The final stage proved a bit embarrassing for the SD Worx-ProTime team, as overall race winner Lotte Kopecky attempted to “gift” the final stage to her teammate Majerus.
With overall victory secured for Belgian world champion Kopecky, she eased up with 250 meters to go to allow Majerus to win the day.
But the terrible miscalculation let the Australian in.
Kopecky eventually crossed the leaderboard in fourth place, but had done enough to clinch the title, finishing 17 seconds clear in the overall standings, with Britain’s Anna Henderson second.
Roseman-Gannon finished ninth overall as the Australian leader, two minutes and 50 seconds behind.
“We made an agreement that she would win today, but maybe it was a stupid mistake,” Kopecky admitted.
“However, I still would have done the same thing. It could have been a good ending for Christine, but we finished well as a team.
“Maybe it’s a little bit of fun and it is what it is, and I’m not disappointed.”
