"This would probably have been the fail of the year" - Liam Slock explains viral finish line crash at GP Gippingen

Every aspiring cyclist dreams and visualises the moment they cross the line and celebrate their first professional victory. When Liam Slock emphatically won the uphill sprint at GP Gippingen, his moment came, but it's made memorable for an unexpected reason.

The Belgian, looking behind at Richard Carapaz and Aleksandr Vlasov in chase, realised he was about to win the Swiss one-day race. In celebrating, he took his hands off the bars to celebrate and crashed at the finish line - still crossing the line first but in spectacular fashion.

The moment went viral, leading to his team Lotto–Intermarché making light of the incident. Confirming that the rider himself is okay with some minor abrasions and a sore hip, the 25-year-old knows that his moment of triumph came close to one of failure.

“Luckily the win came with it, otherwise this would probably have been the fail of the year,” Slock joked in a team statement.

There've been well documented cases of riders celebrating early only to be pipped to the line by chasers, but Slock's case saw mother nature get involved. He explained how a gust of wind caused him to lose control.

“There was an incredibly strong wind and I briefly underestimated it. I realised quite early that I was going to win and started celebrating early because I really wanted to enjoy the moment. I raised my arms in the air and then a gust of wind caught my handlebars.”

The headline-capturing moment perhaps distracted from the racing itself, with Slock impressively powering over to Carapaz and Vlasov in the finale and then choosing the right time to upset the odds and beat the experienced duo.

“The race had actually been going really well all day. We were always where we needed to be every lap. At one point a large group got away and I was able to follow comfortably. When Aleksandr Vlasov and Richard Carapaz attacked in the finale, I decided to bridge across."

He got across and picked his moment: "That took a lot of energy because those guys are among the very best. But once I made it across, I tried to save as much energy as possible. I thought that if I managed to do that, I might be able to win.”

All joking aside, the moment will live long in Slock's memory. When all is said and one, a first victory provided a delightful moment for him, having been part of the Lotto setup his whole career before the team merged with Intermarché.

“I still had plenty left in the tank, so I knew fairly quickly that I was going to make it. The fact that I then crashed makes this a story worth framing. It feels a bit silly, but above all I’m just incredibly happy.”