Julien Alaphilippe sat up, leaned back, and raised his arms high at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege finish.

In a moment of incredible drama, the new world champion appeared to have lost his monumental title and first victory in the rainbow jersey to an amateur mistake.

But the drama continued after the finish, when a five-man sprint competition was reviewed and Alaphilippe was demoted for jumping into the path of Marc Hirschi (Sunweb). Alaphilippe missed the title by this premature blessing, but fell from the podium to fifth place.

Alaphilippe began his sprint in Liège with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain McLaren), and Hirschi and Roglic. Alaphilippe followed Mohoric to start the sprint.

Alaphilippe kicked again and sat up with less than 25 meters to go, confident of victory. Logric, second in the Tour de France, sprinted all the way to the line, with Alaphilippe holding his hands up to the wind, and then made a late bike throw to snatch the win.

The Frenchman waited nervously across the line as officials confirmed the photo finish, but it soon became clear that Roglic had crossed the line first. The blow meant that Alaphilippe had to return to the team bus instead of the podium.

Alaphilippe finished second in his Liege debut in 2015 and was in prime position to win La Doyenne for the first time in his debut as world champion. In 2018, he won Milan-San Remo, but missed a great opportunity for a second Monument title.