With 25 metres to go of the Classic Var on Friday, Tobias Halland Johannessen thought he had won the race. With an attack on the final climb to Mont Faron, the Uno-X Mobility rider clearly felt he had done enough for victory, and so stopped sprinting, punched the air, and sat up in the process.
What he hadn't accounted for was that the race was still very much live behind him. Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), sprinting to the finish, nipped around him in the dying centimetres of the race to take the win. Halland Johannessen, surprised, through his arm up in the air in a different way, but the direction of triumph had already been decided.
Celebrating early, especially with the line in sight, and losing is the cycling equivalent of losing dropping the ball once over the the goal line in rugby, or taking a wicket on a no-ball in cricket. It feels so avoidable, should never have happened, and yet here it is, an albatross round Halland Johannessen's neck.
The Norwegian chased down Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) on the final climb of the 184.3km race, in its first edition, but did not account for Martinez being hot on his heels. With just one more acceleration the Uno-X rider could have secured the win, but could not manage it.
As a result, Martinez has a 100% record in 2024, with one race, one win, while Halland Johannessen's wait for triumph continues. Martinez clearly has a speciality in French one-day races, with his only previous elite win coming at the CIC-Mont Ventoux race last June.
It is far from the first time that riders have been caught out by their hubris, or by thinking they were safe in victory. The most famous incident in recent years was at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2020, when Julian Alaphilippe, as the new world champion, thought he'd secured the win, but was pipped to the line by Primož Roglič.
Two years ago, another Groupama-FDJ rider - David Gaudu - stole a win from Wout van Aert at the Critérium du Dauphiné, which he called a "rookie mistake" afterwards.
Meanwhile, at the Trofeo Palma leg of Challenge Mallorca last month, Emil Herzog of Bora-Hansgrohe celebrated a whole lap early.
Undoubtedly, Halland Johannessen will learn from his mistake and never risk taking his hands off his bars until the win is properly confirmed, but Friday's mistake will stay with him for now. It's all very unfortunate, but props to Martinez for not giving up.
pic.twitter.com/oTSgHWo4wZFebruary 16, 2024
