Tobias Johannessen had won the Classic Var. Or so he had thought... The Uno-X Mobility rider was the strongest up the Mont Faron this Friday, but lost the victory right at the finish line because he thought he had crossed it a few meters before already.
"I was the first one to reach the metal bow before the finish line, no one can take that away from me," Johannessen laughs in an Instagram post. "No, I feel sorry for my teammates doing a perfect job the whole day just to see me do the thing I really believed I was never going to do. But I really thought I celebrated after crossing the line.."
What happened was one of the most shocking finales of the year. Johannessen had distanced the competition and at the top of the climb, inside the final 25 meters of the stage, celebrated. This was however because he had mistaken a metal structure that signaled the end of the climb. It's proximity to the finish line confused him and he tapered to the actual finish line, which was far enough that Lenny Martínez came from behind and snatched the win. Johannessen looked in shock as he understood what had happened.
The footage turns out to be one of the most unique in pro cycling in modern times. "Just to be clear, the finish line is the blue small thing that you see at the end," he concluded. Nevertheless, the Norwegian talent will have more opportunities to win this weekend; he takes to the start line of the Tour des Alpes Maritimes and is a favourite for both stages and the overall classification.
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