Australian Glenn O'Shea has never been involved in a race quite like this one.
Over two days of racing across six events in the omnium event at the track world championships in London, the 26-year-old finished on identical points with Colombian Fernando Gaviria Rendon and Germany's Roger Kluge.
O'Shea fell agonisingly short of a third world championship gold medal, having to settle for bronze after a countback.
It nonetheless earned him another world championship medal - a second bronze to go with his two gold and two silver.
It was all thanks to an extraordinary comeback from O'Shea in the final points race on Saturday night at the Lee Valley Velodrome in London.
Having started the points race in fourth place but 40 points behind the top three, O'Shea stunningly claimed a two laps during the points race - each earning him 20 points - to join a three-way tie on 191 points.
However on countback, he was beaten to gold by the Colombian while silver went to Kluge.
After gaining two laps, O'Shea needed to take points from the final sprint to edge ahead but admits he simply had nothing else to give.
"That second lap I got, was just maybe a bit late. I just didn't have the legs to do the sprint," O'Shea said.
"Considering where I was after the pursuit, to fight my way back to the podium I'm really, really happy with that.
"I don't think I've ever been in a race that close before. It was exciting for me to be in it, I enjoyed it.
"Going into the race I was a fair way behind (but) I thought a podium was a chance.
"I think I rode with that freedom and just rolled the dice a couple of times and went on the offensive and it paid off - not quite for the win, but geez I got close."
On Saturday (Sunday AEDT), O'Shea had made ground on the leaders with strong performances in both the 1km time trial, in which he finished fifth, and the sprint, in which he took second.
But he conceded his flop in the individual pursuit, where he finished 17th, cost him dearly overall.
"I had one bad event, which to be honest was a bit out of character," he said.
"I should've ridden faster in the pursuit - there's no excuses there.
"You can't say it cost you a gold medal, but I was close."
O'Shea also confirmed his approach to move away from the team pursuit in order to focus on the individual event as a way onto Australia's 15-strong squad for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
"I've stepped away from the team pursuit because me and the coaches thought maybe I'm good enough to make the team pursuit and maybe I'm not, but they've got a great squad there," he said.
"But I'm good enough to go to Rio and be a real contender and I'm determined to just concentrate on that at the moment.
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