Luka Pibernik, Giro d’Italia 2017

You have to wonder at what point it sunk in for Luka Pibernik that his solo effort off the front of the peloton had been for nothing, and his celebration was premature.

Could it have been when he finally registered the lap bell, which had been incessantly ringing for most of the final kilometre?

That awkward moment when you celebrate too early ????

A shocker for @Bahrain_Merida rider Luka Pibernik #Giro100 pic.twitter.com/AfWQAW1Ria

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 10, 2017

Or maybe when he turned around to see the peloton still going full gas, led by the sprint teams?

Whenever it was, you can’t help but feel he’ll be waking up in a cold sweat remembering the time he wished the Strait of Messina had opened up and engulfed him for quite some time.

“Dear, oh dear,” Rob Hatch called as he crossed the finished line arms outstretched. Dear, oh dear indeed.

Eloy Teruel, Tour of California 2014

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” the Tour of California finish line commentator frantically shouts as Eloy Teruel celebrates a stage win a lap too early.

The one-time Movistar rider had moved Stateside to ride with the Jamis-Hagens Berman team, and thought he had landed a big coup on stage seven in Pasadena when he attacked solo.

Unfortunately for him, there was still a lap to go – and his look of delight turns to horror at the very end of the video as he realises his error.

Peter Sagan went on to win the stage, while Teruel – now 34 – is still hunting for his first pro victory.

Tom Boonen, Scheldeprijs 2008

Celebrating a lap early is embarrassing, make no mistake, but at least it’s somewhat understandable – anybody can miscount once in their careers.

That wasn’t Tom Boonen’s problem at Scheldeprijs in 2008, however, just three days after he had won Paris-Roubaix for the second time.

No, Boonen knew exactly where the finish line was – what he hadn’t quite calculated was where defending champion Mark Cavendish was, or how fast he was going.

Boonen kicked for the line, and went to raise his arms in triumph, only for his celebration to be cut short as out of the corner of his eye, Cavendish flung his bike for the line to triumph instead.

Boonen – who won Scheldeprijs in 2004 and 2006 – never did claim a third victory in the race, but given everything else he won on the cobbles, we think we’ll let him off…

Simon Clarke, Giro d’Italia 2015

It’s not just celebrating early that earns you a place in the book of finish line fails – you can also celebrate too late, as Simon Clarke proved at the Giro d’Italia in 2015.

Orica-GreenEDGE’s Australian ace is, like Pibernik, not the first or last to do this, but he earns a place in this list simply for his rubbish excuse afterwards.

Stage four had been won solo by Cannondale’s Davide Formolo, but Clarke was seemingly unaware of the Italian crossing the line just 30 seconds earlier.

And to be fair to Clarke, it was a hell of a sprint as he came from deep to pass the other riders sprinting for second place – except he celebrated as though he had won when he crossed the line.

He claims he was simply celebrating the fact he had taken the pink jersey with his performance – and probably would have got away with that excuse, had it not been for his hands-on-head reaction when a fellow rider pointed out Formolo, already celebrating, further up the road.

Michael Matthews, Tour de Pologne 2014

We said Clarke wasn’t the first to celebrate a second place, unaware of others up the road, and he wasn’t even the first on his team to do so.

Michael Matthews gave it the full one-fingered salute at the Tour de Pologne in 2014, which in reality should have been two fingers – for second place.

Petr Vakoc had accelerated solo and simply hadn’t been brought back – to the extent it seemed most of the peloton were unaware of his presence up the road.

How many people knew of Matthews mistake at the time may never be known, but his face on the podium afterwards is a picture.

A glance over his left shoulder showed the Frenchman only open road as he approached the finish line and he sat up to celebrate.

Mould, tucked in behind his right shoulder, sprinted straight through the now open gap and Kneisky’s triumph turned to despair as he buried his head in his hands at his mistake.

Kneisky did at least have the consolation of winning the points competition on the night, however, and the Raleigh-GAC rider atoned for his error by going on to win the points competition overall that year.