That's what you do when you think you've won Olympic gold -- except she hadn't.

That honor went to Austria's Anna Kiesenhofer, who capitalized on her rival's confusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic women's road race on Sunday to secure a shock win.

"When I crossed the line, I thought I had won," said silver medalist Van Vleuten.

Kiesenhofer gave the performance of a lifetime to eclipse a field of big names and win the race, finishing in just under four hours.

The 30-year-old Austrian broke away from the leading group more than 40 kilometers from the end, holding her own on a demanding 147-kilometer course in the intense heat to win Austria's first cycling gold medal since 1896.

Kiesenhofer spent much of the rest of the race so far ahead of the chasing pack that she was out of sight of the other cyclists.

Cyclists race without earpieces at the Olympics and that played a part in Van Vleuten's confusion, according to the 38-year-old Dutch woman.

"This is an example (of what happens) if you ride an important race like this without communication.

All World Tour races have communication, and now it's the three of us standing here and wondering who has actually won," added Van Vleuten, referring to teammates Marianne Vos and Anna van der Breggen.

"I'm gutted about that, of course," said Van Vleuten.

If she was gutted, Van Vleuten was also pleased to have come away with a medal after she suffered a horror crash during the road race at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

"I'm really proud of the medal, because I did not have an Olympic medal.