The bell tolled for Brendan Canty, turning his moment of joy into horror.
The 24-year-old had ridden brilliantly in the Australian championships road race on Sunday, helping catch the breakaway group and then launching a solo charge inside the last 20 kilometres.
With Luke Durbridge chasing madly, Canty tore down the Buninyong finishing straight with one lap left in the 18-lap, 183.6km race.
Then Canty smiled at the motorbike camera and started pumping his fist.
Miles Scotson takes out the elite men's road race in Buninyong.Credit:John Veage
He thought he had won – until officials rang the bell to signal it was one lap left. Canty went on to finish seventh.
It was a moment of high drama in a race full of great moments, with Miles Scotson eventually making a bold solo attack to win.
"It's a long, hot day, but with a couple of laps to go you get a bit excited and things get out of hand a bit," Canty said.
"The feeling of thinking you might stay away is super-exciting. Then 'you have another lap to go' – the high and low of that, I can't really articulate that right now.
Miles Scotson won a dramatic men's race.Credit:John Veage
"It's going to be a little bit disappointing for me. There's nothing to be ashamed of and I'm really proud of the way I rode today."
Canty, who has joined the WorldTour this year with Cannondale-Drapac, joins a long list of riders who have mistimed their laps.
Anyone who has raced a bike cringed on his behalf and Durbridge had plenty of sympathy for him.
"I saw him free-wheeling across the line and I thought 'I hope to God it's finished, because that would be great, but I know it's not'," Durbridge said.
Scotson, meanwhile, started his senior professional cycling career by winning one of the greatest races in Australian road championships history.
The 22-year-old launched an audacious solo attack inside the last two kilometres of an epic men's elite road race that caught the other 13 riders in the select lead pack at the perfect moment.
He soloed to the Buninyong finish, with race favourite Simon Gerrans finishing second and Nathan Haas taking third.
There is speculation the nationals could move from Buninyong and Ballarat after 11 years and if so, this was a fitting finale.
The magnitude of what he had done soon started to sink in for Scotson.
"It's really weird – I'm going to be racing in the national champion's jersey in Europe this year," he said. "It's going to be a big jump ... it's time to lift my game."
The BMC team of Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis has signed Scotson and he will make his WorldTour debut next week in his Adelaide birthplace at the Tour Down Under.
Adding even more lustre to Scotson's win, he had no teammates in the race.
Scotson's talent is undeniable – he was part of the team pursuit squad that won last year's world title, but he missed out on Olympic selection.
He won the under-23 individual time trial bronze medal late last year at the world road championships.
Scotson also won the under-23 time trial and road race at the 2015 nationals.
His bold move to take out Sunday's race in hot conditions was the dramatic final act in a race that had everything.
Durbridge's race kit was covered in salt after he buried himself for Gerrans and Orica-Scott, riding at the front for nearly the whole race.
Gerrans, who revealed he was sick over Christmas, was disappointed not to win his third national title, but paid rich tribute to Scotson.
"It's disappointing when it's so close," he said. "What a great way for him to get his professional career started – I'm happy for a young guy to get the win there today, he really deserved it."
Haas likewise tipped his hat to the winner. "Obviously Miles was an exceptional winner today – this course has no gifts and it takes no prisoners," he said.
AAP