One for the grand kids

Luka Pibernik crossed the line yesterday with his arms in the air to win the fifth stage of the Giro d'Italia. A proud moment for the 23 year old who must have though he had made it two Solvenian stage wins in-a-row. The reality was very different. There was still 6km, or one lap, to go. It was that cringe worthy moment when somebody thinks they have won, while everyone else knows otherwise.

Somewhere in the throws of exhaustion Pibernik failed to hear the last lap bell. He failed to grasp why the pack behind were not sprinting full out as he thought he'd outwitted them all. The arms went up as he crossed the line and the pack swallowed him up and kept on racing.

Or was he as unaware as you think?

You see this has happened before and I have this theory that more often than not the rider knows fine well. But he also knows he isn't going to survive alone for another lap and so he throws the arms up anyway. He knows his chances of a Grand Tour stage win is unlikely, but this image, once the mocking has stopped and the memory faded, will last forever. A picture to show the grandchildren one day. "I didn't actually win kids, but isn't this a pretty picture anyway?" Or by then I suppose he might well tell everyone that he did win.

But even if my theory is wrong, for one short moment, Luka Pibernik got to experience the feeling of winning a Grand Tour stage. None of us, not even many of his fellow pros, will ever get to experience that.

As it turns out it was Fernando Gavaria who actually won, taking his second stage of the Giro in a bunch gallop. Pibernik was 148th. There was no major change in GC.