Tadej Pogačar yet again proved unstoppable in his quest for glory as he stormed to a maiden continental title at the 2025 European Road Cycling Championships on Sunday.
Hosted by France in its Drôme-Ardèche region, this year’s competition was particularly special in that it boasted a full complement of Europe’s biggest cycling stars, including Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard.
However, it was Slovenia’s Pogačar who showed exactly why he was the man to beat after embarking on a trademark solo run to secure the elite men’s road race and his first European crown.
Pogačar goes solo to win
A 202.5-kilometre course between Privas and Guilherand-Granges that also featured 3,300 metres of elevation gain provided plenty of action on the last day of the event, which drew more than 60,000 spectators on Sunday alone, according to a press release from the European Cycling Union (UEC).
Firing up the race was the presence of Europe’s dominant riders, with 2025 Vuelta a España winner Vingegaard, amongst others, poised to try and throw a wrench in Pogačar’s winning streak despite having not competed in one-day races since 2022.
The endeavour fell apart mid-way through the race, though, as the Dane was dropped from the peloton with more than 100km remaining.
Evenepoel then took the reins as Pogačar’s main rival and a number of attacks from the Belgian team shook things up on the Saint-Romain-de-Lerps climb – until the Slovenian launched a solo ride 75km from the finish line.
In spite of Evenepoel’s best efforts, Pogačar managed to open a gap that was ultimately never closed, similar to what transpired at the recent 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda.
“I saw I was losing teammates,” Pogačar said afterwards. “It wasn’t the plan to go from there, but it had to be there – it was the hardest hill and that was my advantage there.”
In the end, Evenepoel secured second place while France’s 19-year-old prodigy Paul Seixas outpaced Italy’s Christian Scaroni to take third.
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Vollering finds redemption after Rwanda
Meanwhile, Dutchwoman Demi Vollering launched her own brilliant attack 38km from the finish line to clinch victory in the elite women’s road race on Saturday.
The Dutch team had set the pace on the main climbs, gradually reducing the peloton and creating an opening for Vollering.
She eventually finished one minute and 58 seconds ahead of Poland’s Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, with compatriot Anna van der Breggen completing the podium.
According to FloBikes, Vollering expressed pride in winning the jersey for the team, saying: “I can’t wait to wear it in a race.”
This comes after the former Tour de France Femmes winner finished seventh in Rwanda, where she admitted to not being at her best.
“I knew something was coming. Sometimes you just know. I dreamt about it a lot the last week, to be able to win here, and today it all went perfect,” Vollering said, as quoted by Domestique Cycling.
With Vollering’s victory, the Netherlands have now won nine of the 10 European elite women’s road race titles.
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Evenepoel, Reusser continue TT streak
The individual time trial races opened the championships on October 1, with Evenepoel and Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser securing the elite titles in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively.
That continued a hot streak for the duo after they both won the elite time trials in Rwanda.
Evenepoel outpaced Italy’s Filippo Ganna and Denmark’s Niklas Larsen, with the Belgian now holding all three major individual championship titles in the road cycling individual time trial.
Reusser, on the other hand, beat Norway’s Mie Bjørndal Ottestad and the Netherlands’ Mischa Bredewold for her triumph.
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European powerhouses shine in France
The five-day event was expected to gather a total of 896 athletes from 44 nations competing for 14 continental titles across road races and time trials at junior, under-23, and elite levels plus mixed relays for the juniors and elites.
In the individual time trial, junior crowns went to Spain’s Paula Ostiz Taco and the Netherlands’ Michiel Mouris, while Italy’s Federica Venturelli and Belgium’s Jonathan Vervenne emerged as the winners for the U23s.
Norway secured gold in the junior team time trial mixed relay, beating France and Poland, but France got revenge in the elite event, grabbing the win ahead of Italy and Switzerland.
The road races saw Spain’s Ostiz claim yet another gold alongside Germany’s Karl Herzog for the juniors and Spain’s Paula Blasi Cairol and Belgium’s Jarno Widar come out on top for the U23s.
France now passes the torch to Slovenia, which was officially declared the host for next year’s championships by the UEC Management Board last week.
“We received several high-quality bids, confirming the importance that the Road European Championships have now acquired on the international sporting scene,” explained UEC president Enrico Della Casa in a press release.
“We chose Slovenia, a country that can no longer be considered emerging, but rather an established and leading force.”
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