Cycling: The ‘winner’ celebrates too early in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic when Primož Roglič overtakes Julian Alaphilippe

Tour de France runner-up Primož Roglič won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic on Sunday after rival Julian Alaphilippe celebrated it too early.

To add insult to injury for world champion Alaphilippe, he was later penalized for an irregular sprint and fell from second to fifth. That was for veering off Marc Hirschi’s path during the frantic final sprint of the 6 1/2 hour race.

A final photo showed Roglič narrowly beating Alaphilippe after the Frenchman raised his arms in celebration and slid towards the line.

“It’s amazing. He was so close,” said Roglič. “Never stop believing”.

Hirschi moved up to finish second and Tour champion Tadej Pogačar came third.

Last month, Roglič led the Tour until fellow Slovenian Pogačar snatched the lead on the penultimate stage by winning a time trial.

“I finally managed to win something,” said Roglič. “It was definitely on my wish list to win a Monument.”

Matej Mohorič, another Slovenian, finished fourth.

British cyclist Lizzie Deignan won the women’s edition, for her first ‘Monument’, ahead of Grace Brown from Australia.

The race, like other spring classics, was rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.