diff --git a/mercurial/lock.py b/mercurial/lock.py
--- a/mercurial/lock.py
+++ b/mercurial/lock.py
@@ -355,6 +355,11 @@
         # held, or can race and break valid lock.
         try:
             with lock(self.vfs, self.f + b'.break', timeout=0):
+                 locker = self._readlock()
+                 if not self._lockshouldbebroken(locker):
+                     return locker
+                 self.vfs.unlink(self.f)
+
                 self.vfs.unlink(self.f)
         except error.LockError:
             return locker