During the women’s Tour of Britain, Christine Majerus was caught out by a premature celebration on Sunday when she raised her arm, only to see a rival beat her to the line.
On Friday, a Spanish race walker missed out on a medal when celebrating too early with a flag draped over her shoulders at the European Athletics Championships.
This time, it was Majerus from Luxembourg who was left on the wrong side of the medal podium during the final stage of the women’s Tour de Britain in Leigh, Greater Manchester.
The SD Worx-ProTime rider raised her arm and sat up in celebration, only for Ruby Roseman-Gannon, the Australian rider, to pass her at the finish line.
Lotte Kopecky secured the overall Tour of Britain victory, with a 17-second lead over Great Britain’s Anna Henderson.
“It could have been a nice ending for Christine, but we finished well as a team,” Kopecky said, reported by The Telegraph.
“Ruby is a good rider so it was nice for her but I am happy that Christine got the bonus seconds to get third [overall] so it is nice. Maybe it is a little funny but it is what it is and I’m not disappointed.”
British rider Lizzie Deignan secured the Queen of the Mountains jersey and still tried to put in a solo effort to allow Henderson to win the race.
“[The solo attack] was kind of by accident to be honest,” Deignan confessed after celebrating her Queen of the Mountains victory on the podium with her two children. “I was just really going for the [QOM] points and saw a gap and thought ‘Well there’s nothing to lose now!’
“I was just trying to put Anna in a good position. It was a nice atmosphere, I heard my name lots of times, lots of Yorkshire flags, and I knew the kids were at the finish line too so it was a lovely day.”
