Christophe Laporte resisted the other favorites to claim the star-studded jersey of European champion, like Bredewold among the women. Complete summary of the championships.
After the triplets of the Vuelta, new triplet of the Jumbo Visma in the road race of the European cycling championships. But this time, Christophe Laporte, Wout Van Aert and Olav Kooij were indeed opponents since they were racing for their countries: France, Belgium and the Netherlands respectively. The leaders of the three favorite teams did not miss the meeting. A group of 10 riders broke away more than 20 kilometers from the finish, with two Frenchmen (Laporte and Dujardin), two Belgians (Van Aert and De Lie), two Dutchmen (Kooij and Teunissen), two Danes (Pedersen and Kron) but also Degenkolb and Tiller. Christophe Laporte attacked at the start of the last lap of the circuit, 12.7 kilometers long, and resisted the other favorites, who nevertheless collaborated well to never let the Frenchman take more than 15 seconds ahead. Van Aert and Olav Kooij, the strongest of the pursuers, returned to Laporte’s wheel in the last meters of the final climb, but did not manage to overtake him. Christophe Laporte therefore becomes European champion ahead of Van Aert again second, as at the world championships.
Among the women, a similar scenario allowed the Dutchwoman Mischa Bredewold to win ahead of her compatriot Lorena Wiebes. Taking advantage of the numerical superiority of the Netherlands in the leading group, Bredewold attacked 10 kilometers from the finish and resisted on the final climb, like Laporte, to become European champion. The Belgian Lotte Kopecky finished third and may harbor regrets, like Van Aert among the men.
In the time trial, Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser won the title for the third time in a row, beating Anna Henderson and Christina Schweinberger by more than 40 seconds. Frenchwoman Audrey Cordon-Ragot finished fourth. Among the men, the very young Briton Joshua Tarling also gave his opponents a lesson on the timed exercise. He sticks 42 seconds to Stefan Bissegger, second, and 43 to Wout Van Aert. At 19, Tarling is already European time trial champion but also British champion and bronze medalist at the world championships in this discipline. Despite the lack of a predictable medal for the French in the individual times, the French won the mixed relay title, ahead of Italy by 4 seconds. Juliette Labous, Cédrine Kerbaol, Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Bruno Armirail, Rémi Cavagna, and Benjamin Thomas therefore leave with a gold medal, in addition to that of Laporte in the road race.
For both men and women, the road race will be contested on a flat circuit of 13.7 kilometers with the only difficulty being the Col de Vam, only 600 meters long at 6% but with a paved portion at its summit which could make differences. The road is narrow and very winding on the circuit and this could encourage a wild race, especially if the wind gets involved. Above all, the finish will be judged at the top of the Col de Vam, which could complicate the task of pure sprinters.
Wednesday September 20:
Thursday September 21:
Friday September 22:
Saturday September 23:
Sunday September 24
The European Cycling Championships will be followed live on Eurosport and La Chaîne L’Équipe.