Lotto-Intermarché can't resist teasing Liam Slock after his crash-landing victory: 'Fail of the year'

It's every cyclist's nightmare, and for Liam Slock it very nearly became reality. The Belgian from Lotto-Intermarché was well on his way to claiming his first professional victory in spectacular fashion, but he crashed while celebrating, just before the line. It turned out to be a lucky escape, because despite sliding across the tarmac, he still crossed the finish line first. Looking back on it now, he can see the funny side.

In the GP Gippingen, Slock impressively stayed with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). Real heavyweights, but it didn't faze the Belgian. In the difficult final kilometre, he launched his sprint, and it proved far too strong for his rivals. He started celebrating early, but that's where it went wrong: he lost control of his bike in the wind and crashed heavily with ten metres to go.

Did he win, or didn't he? After the most bizarre photo finish of all time, the unbelievable turned out to be true, as Slock had indeed taken his first professional win. Covered in scrapes, however, it wasn't quite the moment to celebrate straight away. That came later, once Lotto-Intermarché confirmed it was nothing more than some scrapes and a sore hip.

On his team's website, the winner can now laugh about it. "Luckily the win came with it, otherwise this would probably have been the fail of the year," Slock said. "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 manner of victory takes nothing away from the phenomenal race Slock put together in Switzerland. Carapaz is the Tokyo Olympic champion and won the 2019 Giro d'Italia, while Vlasov finished fifth in the Tour de France four years ago. "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."

Against names of that calibre, the Belgian knew he had to play it smart. "When Aleksandr Vlasov and Richard Carapaz attacked in the finale, I decided to bridge across. 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."

After that, it almost went badly wrong, but you won't find a more memorable first victory than this one. "I still had plenty left, so I knew quite quickly 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." Now that it's all ended well, Lotto-Intermarché can't resist poking a bit of fun at the winner.

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs | Email | LinkedIn