🎥 Seeing is believing: Belgian Slock, 25, beats Carapaz and Vlasov but crashes just before the finish

Liam Slock of Lotto-Intermarché produced one of the most astonishing finishes in recent cycling history on Sunday. The Belgian held off Aleksandr Vlasov of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost, but crashed while celebrating. Falling to the ground, he still crossed the finish line first. It was truly incredible.

With the Tour de Suisse shortened, the GP Gippingen was held on Sunday this year. That attracted a strong field to Switzerland, with names such as Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost, Thibau Nys of Lidl-Trek, Jarno Widar of Lotto-Intermarché and home rider Marc Hirschi of Tudor all on the start list.

There was also plenty of attention on Jan Christen, riding for the Swiss national selection, Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor, Alberto Bettiol of XDS-Astana and Swiss champion Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla. Under bright conditions, all of them were able to get stuck into a lively Sunday of racing.

Schmid attacked strikingly early, but the competition understandably had no intention of giving him too much freedom. With 40 kilometres to go, the race really exploded thanks to the Tudor riders. Florian Stork was on the offensive, while Alaphilippe once again had to let go noticeably early. Not the best signs with the Tour de France starting in a few weeks.

It was then up to local hero Christen to shake things up. Under his impetus, a group of around fifteen riders went clear, with plenty of major names involved. Carapaz then attacked from that group, joined by a remarkably strong Liam Slock of Lotto-Intermarché and Aleksandr Vlasov of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

Lidl-Trek threw everything at trying to bring those riders back, but the three leaders continued to work together impressively well. That proved to be the key to success, for one of them at least. As they entered the final kilometre, the tactical games finally began, with Vlasov forced into the lead.

Slock, however, blasted past without hesitation and raised his arms in celebration, only to crash dramatically as he did so. The big question was immediate: had he crossed the line while falling, or not? The answer was yes, meaning the Belgian had taken his first professional victory. And what a way to do it. The footage can be seen below.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]