European Cycling Championships 2023: Laporte fends off van Aert's last attack and becomes European champion

Laporte had broken away from a leading group of ten riders at the start of the last lap and built up a cushion of no more than 20 seconds, but could not be caught. Mischa Bredewold (Netherlands) had already won the elite women's race the day before in a similar scenario.

Another parallel to the women's race, in which the first three places went to three riders from SD Worx: Laporte won ahead of his Jumbo-Visma colleagues Wout van Aert (Belgium) and Olav Kooij (Netherlands). The race was extremely close. The Frenchman had gone into the final climb with a good ten-second lead, but van Aert and Kooij had caught up around 300 metres before the finish - the rest of the former leading group had already fallen apart at the start of the climb. But the moment van Aert was on the Frenchman's rear wheel, he gave everything he had left in the tank and kept the Belgian behind him in the sprint.

>> Overview of all European Championship races 2023

"That was a crazy final," said the new European champion in an interview, looking pretty exhausted. "I felt good and then I thought to myself, if I have to sprint against people like Arnaud De Lie (ultimately fourth) or Wout, it will be difficult to win. So I tried to do it differently - and it worked."

National coach Greipel satisfied with German performance

John Degenkolb was also part of the leading group. The Gera native, who like many other riders was involved in a mass crash in the first half of the almost 200-kilometre race starting in Assen, had made the jump at the crux of the race by positioning himself well in the peloton. Kim Heiduk crashed on the third ascent of the VAM climb, causing the field to break up and not come back together. In the absolute final, however, he was no longer able to keep up with the European leaders, but still finished in a good eighth place.

"In the end, I can be pretty proud of how we rode as a team and how we tackled another very special race with lots of bends and small roads," said the 34-year-old. "I showed today and also at the World Championships in Glasgow that an old man like me can still be a good competitor." Only the strong Jumbo riders caused Degenkolb to frown a little. "They are on a different level, apparently Laporte can even hold ten seconds in such a tough finale, although he rode a long solo. Chapeau, it's nice to see how strong the human body can be."

>> The German squad for the European Cycling Championships

National coach André Greipel was also happy with his team's performance at the end of the European Championships. "When you have a rider in the leading group, you naturally harbour hopes of a medal, but I'm still satisfied. The team sold itself well," said Greipel. Jonas Koch was the second-best German in 16th place, 42 seconds behind Laporte. Felix Engelhardt, last year's U23 European champion, finished four places behind him (+0:53).

European Cycling Championships 2023: Results men's road race

1. Christophe Laporte (France) 4:15:50
2. Wout van Aert (Belgium) +0:00
3. Olav Kooij (Netherlands) +0:00
4. Arnaud De Lie (Belgium) +0:00
5. Mike Teunissen (Netherlands) +0:08
6. Rasmus Tiller (Norway) +0:08
7. Mads Pedersen (Denmark) +0:13
8. John Degenkolb (Germany) +0:15
9. Andreas Kron (Denmark) +0:39
10. Florian Senechal (France) +0:41

Kunz finishes in the top 10

The juniors had previously completed five laps of the course around the VAM mountain. However, the decision was only made on the last of the 69 kilometres. The Belgian Fleur Moors attacked in the absolute final on the mountain and had more power than all her rivals. European time trial champion Federica Venturelli (Italy), who also won gold in the mixed relay and is therefore the most successful athlete at the European Championships, took silver. Bronze went to Leane Tabu ahead of two other French women.

Hannah Kunz finished 8th for Germany, having already won bronze in the individual time trial and silver in the mixed relay. "It was a tough race, only on the straights was it a bit calmer, but otherwise the pace was always very high. That was also our plan, we wanted a tough race. Unfortunately, we weren't in a good position on the final lap and couldn't make up much ground. That was a bit annoying, because I felt good," said Kunz at the finish.

European Cycling Championships 2023: Junior road race results

1. Fleur Moors (Belgium) 1:59:55
2. Federica Venturelli (Italy) +0:03
3. Leane Tabu (France) +0:07
4. Titia Ryo (France) +0:07
5. Elyne Roussel (France) +0:07
6. Viktoria Chladonova (Slovakia) +0:07
7. Lauren Molengraaf (Netherlands) +0:07
8. Hannah Kunz (Germany) +0:07
9. Lore De Schepper (Belgium) +0:10
10. Eleonora la Bella (Italy) +0:12