The best of the best in European cycling gathered in Slovenia over the weekend to kick off this year’s UEC Road European championships, with Demi Vollering defending her title and Remco Evenepoel sprinting to a redeeming victory.
Several favourites were notably absent from this year’s edition in Ljubljana, including defending champion Tadej Pogačar, who is still out of racing due to an injury, as well as Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.
But that didn’t stop the rest of the European riders, who aimed to give themselves one last shot for an international crown following the World Championships just a week ago.
Nail-biting finale wraps up men’s elite
One of the riders aiming for redemption was Evenepoel, who fell out of contention for the podium during the Montreal Worlds despite winning the individual time trial for Belgium.
Evenepoel came to the European championships fresh out of that disappointment, which was apparently enough to plan a remarkable comeback.
The road to victory, however, was not easy.
Evenepoel led his Belgian teammates before launching an attack in an uphill sector, only for him to crash into the barriers.
Italy’s Giulio Ciccone, who was the only one close enough at the front, then broke away to ride solo.
The Belgian remained calm despite the crash and eventually caught up to Ciccone.
The two maintained the gap with the rest of the chasers, and by the time the final stretch came, Ciccone and Evenepoel locked in for a sprint-a-deux.
Ciccone launched the sprint, and for a moment it looked like he got it in the bag, but Evenepoel bounced back to bridge that gap.
The fight was so close that when they crossed the finish line together, no one knew who won for a few seconds until a photo finish verified Evenepoel as the new European champion.
Ciccone and Christian Scaroni finished second and third for Italy, respectively.
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A stunning comeback for Evenepoel
Evenepoel admitted his performance at the Worlds a week ago weighed heavily on him.
“The victory is a real relief after things didn’t go so well for me at the World Championships,” he said after the race.
“As a team, we rode the race pretty much exactly as we had planned. But it became tricky again when I went too fast into a corner after the first attack.
“Then Ciccone and I tried again on the descent and worked well together. In the sprint, I initially didn’t think I could still win it, but in the final 100 metres he started to slow down, and that’s when I saw my chance.”
The latest win allows Evenepoel to complete his championship title set following his victory at both the time trials and road races of the Olympics, the Wolds and the European Championships.
Dutch dominance prevails in women’s elite
If the men went on a redemption road, it was all about dominance in the women’s, particularly for newly crowned world champion and defending European winner Vollering.
But Vollering didn’t do it on her own – her Dutch team knew how to play it well.
Femke de Vries led the Dutch team before Puck Pieterse took control with a pace that thinned out the peloton.
Once Vollering finally attacked, only a few were able to hold on, including rival Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney of Poland.
But Pieterse’s pace already did the damage and Niewiadoma-Phinney could not hold on, allowing Vollering to go solo until the very end.
It was more bad luck for the Pole, however, after a crash in the final stretch prevented her from fighting for a podium spot.
Pieterse then sprinted to take silver and Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser completed the podium for bronze.
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Unstoppable Vollering holds Worlds and European titles
Vollering now holds both Worlds and European titles simultaneously for the first time in her career.
“I really love winning and I never get tired of it,” she said after the race.
“But for me, it’s not just about winning. It’s also about constantly improving, working on yourself every day and finding out what more you can achieve in the future.”
She called 2026 a “golden year” and is almost disappointed that it’s coming to a close.
Nevertheless, she has plenty of things to look forward to, including welcoming 2027 as the new world champion.
“I can’t wait to ride in the rainbow jersey all year long next year.”
Europe’s young and talented shine
Meanwhile, the road races for the under-23s and juniors also produced stunning firsts for Europe’s young and talented.
Mara Winter of Switzerland edged everyone else to top the women’s under-23 race, while Hector Martinez Alvarez of Spain rode to victory in the men’s.
Elias Dybing of Norway and Azzurra Ballan of Italy broke away from the pack to claim the men and women’s junior road races, respectively.
The European Championships now heads to an official training day on Monday before the time trial races on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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