An Olympic cyclist thought she’d won her event but was crushed when she realized she actually came second

• Annemiek van Vleuten crossed the finish line and celebrated like she'd won.
• The only trouble was, she came second in Sunday's road race at the 2020 Olympic Games.
• It seemed nobody from second place down knew that Anna Kiesenhofer sneaked an early lead.
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An Olympic cyclist crossed the finish line of her event Sunday and celebrated like she thought she'd won gold, only to feel emotionally crushed when she realized moments later that she actually came second.

38-year-old racer Annemiek van Vleuten was a pre-race favorite for the Olympic title after a horror fall ensured she left Rio de Janeiro with three broken bones and her hopes dashed five years ago.

At the Tokyo 2020 Games, van Vleuten would have thought she'd done everything right in the 137 kilometers (85 miles) race, finishing with a time of three hours and 54 minutes.

However, little did she know that Anna Kiesenhofer, an Austrian underdog, had gotten an early break away from the peloton (main field of cyclists).

Kiesenhofer then built a lead so substantial that her main competitors seemed to forget she was even ahead.

The chaos was heightened because radios are not permitted at the Olympics, like they are in other competitions. And so there never seemed to be urgency for van Vleuten and the peloton to chase Kiesenhofer down.

"I didn't know," van Vleuten said after, according to Sky Sports. "I was wrong."

She continued: "I thought I had won. I'm gutted about this, of course. At first, I felt really stupid, but then the others also did not know who had won."

The sports website added that Team GB's Lizzie Deignan, who finished 11th in the event, congratulated van Vleuten on her win.

Deignan even said she didn't know "anything" about Keisenhofer, calling her "a surprise winner."

Kiesenhofer crossed the line with a time of three hours, 52 minutes, and 45 seconds -a 75-second lead.

Kiesenhofer said: "I couldn't believe it, even when I crossed the line. I planned to attack at kilometre zero and I was happy I could get in front. That is something I could not take for granted because I am not good at riding in the peloton."