French cyclist celebrates winning race only for a photo finish to show he actually lost by 0.4 milliseconds

• French cyclist Pierre Barbier proved on Wednesday that you should never celebrate victory too early.
• He celebrated after crossing the line in Croatia, only to find out later he lost by 0.4 milliseconds.

French cyclist Pierre Barbier proved on Wednesday that you should never celebrate victory too early.

Amid a chaotic finish to stage two of the CRO Race – a road cycling stage race in Croatia – Barbier thought he'd timed his dip perfectly to beat Italian Jonathan Milan.

The B&B Hotels-KTM rider started celebrating wildly as he crossed the line and continued to gloat to the camera afterwards.

However, his joy was short-lived as the photo-finish revealed that Milan had actually won by 0.4 milliseconds.

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Barbier saw the funny side of the incident, writing on Instagram alongside a photo of him celebrating on the finish line: "First win of the season... ahhh well no."

Milan, who races for Bahrain Victorious, called his narrow win "incredible."

"It was a really difficult finish. I just followed what the guys told me," he told reporters. "Two victories in two days is something that I couldn't think [about]. I'm super excited about that.

"I like racing in Croatia a lot."

Stage three of the CRO Race takes place on Thursday.