Canberra's Michael Matthews thumped his handlebars as he crossed the finish line but it was born out of frustration rather than celebration.
But six-time Tour de France competitor Stephen Hodge says the best is yet to come for Team Sunweb rider Matthews, backing him to eventually dethrone Peter Sagan and win a world championship.
Matthews claimed the bronze medal in the elite men's road race at the UCI road world championships in Bergen, Norway, on Monday morning.
Slovakian Peter Sagan surged ahead inside the final 50 metres to pip local favourite Alexander Kristoff and the Australian hopeful to the line.
"I think again he showed that he is one of the absolute top sprinters in the world," Hodge said.
"If you watch the sprint quite clearly the two guys that came first and second, Kristoff and Sagan, had an extra gear than Michael did. To his credit he's been going really hard all year.
"This was a big goal of his but he has once again just shown that all the confidence us Aussies place in him is really well-founded. He's just been fantastic."
Sagan became the first rider to claim three road race world titles in a row and joined Italian Alfredo Binda, Belgians Rik van Steenbergen and Eddy Merckx, and Spain's Oscar Freire in an elite group of triple world champions.
Hodge maintains Matthews has what it takes to join them in the wake of a stellar year that saw the Canberran claim the green jersey at the Tour de France.
That success paired with two stage wins as well as victories at the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour de Suisse, makes for an impressive year.
"Michael is on an upward trajectory," Hodge said.
"Michael is still developing, he's still getting stronger. We will see him at the very forefront of world cycling sprints for quite a few years to come.
"I have no doubt that he might be disappointed this time, but I can assure you in the future he won't be disappointed. I think he's got a really good chance to win the world championship in the future."
The Australian team was dealt an early blow as Canberra's Mathew Hayman was forced to withdraw following a crash.
It was the precursor to a frustrating finish with Matthews left angered after he "wasted" energy he needed for the sprint too early.
Plenty of attacks were taking place in a "hectic" final five kilometres and Matthews says he was just trying to save his legs for the sprint.
But he was boxed in by Sagan and another rider and used all the energy he had banked up for the sprint in a bid to get out of the swamp.
"What I would change? I wouldn't attack so many times on the final climb," Matthews said.
"I didn't know it would come down to such a big bunch sprint, but I think I wasted a lot of energy when I was trying to go with the moves and attacking myself on the climb.
"If I could take something back, I'd probably sit back with these guys [Kristoff and Sagan] and cruise up the climb. I that's what's zapped me for the sprint today.
"I jumped a lot with guys attacking but they were never really going anywhere. The bunch was still too big and I wasted energy from doing that.
"Sagan was still sitting back in the bunch and gambling on it coming back together. Maybe that's what I should have done too. There's nothing I can do now, I guess."
