Samuele Battistella, the Italian rider elevated to gold in the U23 World Championships road race in Yorkshire yesterday has insisted he was the best in the race.
The 20-year-old Italian crossed the line in 2nd place but when Nils Eekhoff (Netherlands) was disqualified for taking a tow earlier in the race after a crash, Battistella was bumped up to the top step on the podium.
Usually in such situations the rider who gains enjoys a more muted celebration than if they had crossed the line first.
Even Great Britain's Tom Pidcock, who was bumped up from 4th to the bronze medal, said he did not want to win a medal in that way.
But Battistella entered in the full spirit of his good fortune saying "I feel like the winner".
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The Italian yesterday added of Eekhoff: "He was disqualified and there's a reason why he's not the winner. I'm sorry for him but I'm the winner."
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On Saturday morning the 20-year-old doubled down on those sentiments on Twitter.
He tagged Eekhoff, offering qualified commiserations before once again stating he was the best in the race, even though it was him alone against 25 others in the closing stages.
“What I should say… I was second
on the finish line, but I was the strongest yesterday. I was alone against 25
riders. I did the biggest mistake of my life on the sprint and I finished
second.
“I'm sorry Nils Eekhoff because
you passed the finish line for first and was not my fault if the UCI took that decision.
“You are strong maybe one day you can wear the rainbow jersey on the (WorldTour) category,” he said, concluding with a winking emoji.
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