Australian cyclist Lucy Kennedy said she learned her lesson after celebrating too early in the last stretch of the Stage 3 Giro Costa Race in Piedicavallo, Italy Tuesday cost her what would have been her first win at the Women's World Tour level.
Kennedy lifted her arm in triumph as she approached the uphill cobblestone finish line instead of powering through to the end. Her premature celebration allowed Dutch rider Marianne Vos to zoom past the line at the last second, winning the race.
OLYMPIAN LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER CELEBRATES VICTORY TOO EARLY IN RACE, ENDS UP FINISHING 10TH
“Lesson most definitely learnt: Always sprint beyond the line and never celebrate early,” Kennedy, who was riding for the Michelton-Scott team, said on Twitter after the race.
The victory was Vos' second consecutive Giro Rosa stage win. Kennedy placed second. And, Denmark's Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig placed third. The second place title was still Kennedy's first World Tour podium finish, the New Zealand Herald reported.
"Right at the end, I looked back and thought I had it, my first World Tour win but as I raised my fist in the air, Vos came past me. I was absolutely spent," Kennedy told the publication. "Obviously I am very very disappointed to miss out but it is still my best result. I haven't had a World Tour podium before so I can be really happy with that," she said.
Kennedy, 30, began pro-cycling last year with the Mitchelton–Scott team, Bicycling magazine reported. She’s placed first overall and in the mountains classification of the 2019 Herald Sun Tour, second overall in the 2019 Women’s Tour Down Under, and second in the 2018 National Road Championships time trial.
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That same day Kennedy celebrated her supposed win too early, another cyclist, Nadia Quagliotto, an Italian rider with team Ale Cipollini, also raised her arm in triumph before crossing the finish line in the Stage 4 Giro Costa Race. Fellow Italian Letizia Borghesi, of team Aromitalia Vaiano, raced past her, beating her out of the first place spot.