Too eager to celebrate, Sheehan has his victory stolen from him

Since the last Tour de France, we would tend to say that a cyclist who raises his arms in victory, even though he is not the winner, has done a Julian Alaphilippe.

On Friday at the Tour of Germany, Stage 2 ended with a three-way sprint. Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech) started the fight first, comfortably gaining the upper hand over his two rivals, Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X).

But the American saw himself too good, too quickly. He raised his arms, believing he could no longer be caught. Well, that was without counting on the determination of Narvaez, who ultimately became the true winner.

Her Israel-Premier Tech team posted a message on X that read, "So close!" So she doesn't seem to hold any grudge against her 25-year-old athlete. At that age, it's truly an unforgivable mistake that could be considered professional misconduct.

For the record, in the 2025 Tour de France, Julian Alaphilippe raised his arms, believing he would win, because he didn't know there were riders ahead of him. The cause was a faulty earpiece system after a crash. So the situation isn't quite the same. The Frenchman even has extenuating circumstances, which Riley Sheehan doesn't.