Remco Evenepoel European champion

Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) won the road race at the European Championships (Slovenia) on 4 October, in a sprint between 2, in 4h16’37”. Giulio Ciccone (Italy) was second, Christian Scaroni (Italy) third.

The race

The race covered 196.3 kilometres, from Ljubljana to Šenčur, with five passages over the Možjanca climb: 2.1 kilometres at an average gradient above 10 per cent. Tadej Pogačar, who had pulled out after his crash at the Vuelta, was not there: he watched the race from a VIP car.

After the start, with a salute as Luka Mezgec, in his final race, went past, a break of six went clear. With Mezgec were Tiago Antunes, Josef Černý, Jochem Kerckhaert, Jakob Söderqvist and Fabian Weiss. With around 115 kilometres to go the lead was 1’30”. Belgium kept the peloton under control and the break never became a threat: the last three left in front were caught at the foot of the second Možjanca climb.

There Italy took over, setting a pace that stretched the peloton. Juan Ayuso lost contact and finished that lap at 4’45”. At the end of the second lap 52 riders remained at the front. On the third Mads Pedersen was dropped. Pavel Sivakov tried from a long way out, but Belgium reeled him in. With around 60 kilometres to go Ramses Debruyne set a tempo that reduced the group to about twenty men.

The race was decided on the penultimate climb. Ciccone attacked, Evenepoel responded and passed him. At the top, on a tight right-hand bend, the Belgian went in too fast and crashed. He got straight back up. Ciccone, ahead, did not take advantage. Maxim van Gils and Debruyne brought Evenepoel back, and he attacked again: only Ciccone followed.

The two entered the final lap, of 22 kilometres, with 25” over the chasing group. Evenepoel did almost all the work: he held a steady pace from the foot of the last climb, with Ciccone glued to his wheel. Behind, Scaroni, who had set off for the bronze, lost ground to the two leaders. He then held on to third place, 59” behind them, ahead of Toms Skujins.

In the sprint Ciccone launched from a long way out and took the final bend first, on the inside. Evenepoel came back in the last metres and threw his bike at the line. It took the photo finish to award the win: a time of 4h16’37” for both.

Evenepoel, 26, thus takes his first European road title. It comes a week after the World Championships in Montréal, where he had won the time trial but had not managed to make the difference in the road race, won by Brandon McNulty in a solo effort. For Ciccone it is a silver within a whisker of gold, for Italy a double on the podium with Scaroni.

The best-placed Italian is Giulio Ciccone, 2nd with the same time as the winner; among the top ten there are 2 Italians. 66 riders finished out of 114 starters.

How they finished

The top ten

#	Rider	Country	Time
1	Remco Evenepoel	Belgium	4h16’37”
2	Giulio Ciccone	Italy	s.t.
3	Christian Scaroni	Italy	+59″
4	Toms Skujins	Latvia	+1’13”
5	Ivan Romeo	Spain	+1’16”
6	Ramses Debruyne	Belgium	+1’16”
7	Emil Herzog	Germany	+1’17”
8	Maxim van Gils	Belgium	+1’17”
9	Léo Bisiaux	France	+1’18”
10	Primož Roglič	Slovenia	+1’19”

News written with the help of Mnemosyne.

Sources

• Results and times: UCI, official results.
• Photo: Hoebele, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.