There are few things more satisfying in bike racing than crossing the line with arms aloft, the win secured, the legs burning, the crowd roaring — the perfect photo, forever. But there’s a reason most riders wait until after the finish line to start celebrating…
That particular lesson was learned the hard way this week by a junior rider at the Iraqi Clubs Cycling Championship, whose early victory salute, with the line still tantalisingly out of reach, ended in a crash, a lost wheel, a mid-air somersault from a second rider, a bike with wings, and a pile of tarmac-smeared ambition just metres from the line.
The incident happened during the final stage of the national club championship in Erbil, where junior riders from more than 20 teams across Iraq were battling it out over a 45-kilometre course. As the finish approached, one rider surged clear, took one last look behind — and decided the gap was enough.
Fate had other plans, though, as within seconds, he lost balance, the bike slid out beneath him, a wheel came off, and he hit the deck just shy of the line.
Behind him, another rider barely had time to react before launching over the fallen cyclist in a full Superman, flipping off the bars and landing with Olympic-level commitment. Others dodged left and right. Spectators screamed. Officials sprinted. The two riders involved eventually picked themselves up and walked their bikes, or what was left of them, across the line.
During a cycling tournament in Erbil city in the Kurdistan Region, the rider who was in first place fell due to celebrating too early before crossing the finish line. He raised his hands in celebration, lost his balance, and fell, which led to his loss. pic.twitter.com/SjHlBiUHgp
— Baxtiyar Goran ☀️ (@BaxtiyarGoran) August 5, 2025
The official results, announced later by the Central Cycling Federation, crowned Naft Al-Wasat Club’s Ali Issam Majid as the winner, ahead of Al-Nidhal Club’s Ammar Ihab Abdul Khader and Al-Saniya Club’s Saif Abdul Hamza Hamid.
The clip, which has now gone viral across social media, instantly earned the unnamed rider a place in one of cycling’s most exclusive clubs: those who celebrated a win that wasn’t quite theirs.
It’s the kind of heartbreak that’s happened to some of the biggest names in the sport. Lorena Wiebes thought she had Amstel Gold wrapped up last year, until Marianne Vos came barrelling up the barriers and stole it with a perfectly timed bike throw. Erik Zabel famously sat up too early at Milan-Sanremo in 2004, only to be mugged on the line by Oscar Freire.
> Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory — when cycling celebrations go wrong
And Julian Alaphilippe? He’s had a couple. His Liège-Bastogne-Liège salute in 2020 let Primož Roglič slip past in the final metres. And just a few weeks ago, at this year’s Tour de France, he celebrated a ‘stage win’ in Carcassonne that turned out to be third place. This time, at least, he had a broken radio and a dislocated shoulder to blame.
And then there are the more low-key events. In 2023, two French amateurs at the Critérium de Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise rode side-by-side across the line, arms linked in celebration — only to be mugged on the left-hand side by a lone sprinter who hadn’t read the script.
But there’s not really any shame in it. Because what this Iraqi junior now has — along with a bruised elbow and a viral video — is a permanent place in the long, ridiculous, painful, and glorious history of cyclists who dared to believe just a little too early.