Sometimes life gives you lemons and sometimes life squeezes those lemons in your eyes. That was certainly the case for Canyon ZCC rider Lionel Vujasin who had booked himself a place in the live final of the Fiets Magazine 'Best of the Best' racing series in Amsterdam. After a 2.5 hour drive from his home in Liege, Belgium, Lionel was ready to show what he was capable of. However, fate (and Ant+) had other plans for him as disaster struck in the middle of race. This really deserves the clickbait title of "...but what happened next stunned the audience".
Here's what Lionel had to say once we had finally recovered:
"Well, that was the scenario I was most afraid of! I tried to stay calm and focus on my effort; Harrogate is the kind of course where speed momentum is key and you can make up time if you play it smart. I just did my effort as I would do in a TT and tried to fight the negative thoughts in my head. Being in a live event is a totally different experience to racing at home. The temperature in the room was really high, which makes it even more difficult. But on the other hand you can keep an eye on the body language of your competitors. I used my experience from previous events to stay composed and make it possible. In the end, things worked pretty well."
"Overall, it’s another experience I've gained that will count towards my bigger goals in 2020!"
Simply, if you haven't watched the livestream or the recording then you really have to. Team Manager, Rhys Howell said, "that was simply one of the most impressive performances I have ever seen on Zwift".