European Cycling Championships 2025: With Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel, without Ferrand-Prévot

The starting fields for the road races at the European Championships in France are taking shape. In the men's race, Tadej Pogacar, the new and old world champion, will be the favourite to take on the 203-kilometre course in the foothills of the Massif Central on 5 October 2025 (Sunday). Unlike at the World Championships in Rwanda just under a week ago, his eternal rival Jonas Vingegaard will also be challenging him in the south of France. The Dane is the most prominent member of his national team, which also includes former world champion Mads Pedersen and world championship fourth-placed Mattias Skjelmose. Among the top favourites on the with around 3,400 metres of elevation gain Remco Evenepoel, who has already won the individual time trial title at the European Championships, was also a contender. At the World Championships, he had lost touch with Pogacar early on in the road race and then later provoked a time-consuming bike change. He was criticised for this by his national coach Serge Pauwels. In the end, Evenepoel took silver in Rwanda.

Jens Voigt: Better line-up than at the World Championships

"Given the starting field, the European Championship is basically the World Championship to the power of three. Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Pogacar - at the top, the European Championships actually have a better line-up than the World Championships, if you add riders like Juan Ayuso, Joao Almeida and Mads Pedersen, although the South Americans, US-Americans and Australians are of course missing. So it's a real highlight and a treat for the fans," said former pro Jens Voigt on eurosport.de, the website of the live broadcasting channel Discovery+/Eurosport. In addition to the aforementioned racers, the French can also hope for a medal at their home race. Romain Grégoire could have a chance on the terrain - after all, he won the Faun-Ardèche Classic one-day race in the spring, which ran over parts of the European Championship course. The 18-year-old Paul Seixas, France's highly acclaimed super talent, also proved his early maturity with 13th place at the World Championships. The Germans are only likely to play an outsider role. German champion Georg Zimmermann returned weakened from the World Championships. His national team colleague Lennard Kämna is not yet at his old level after his serious accident this season. The rest of the team comes from third-class Continental teams, including the DM bronze medallist Anton Schiffer.

The top favourite has cancelled

The women can expect a course with significantly fewer metres in altitude - it should be even better suited to fast, explosive classic specialists. Liane Lippert can therefore be hopeful if she has recovered sufficiently from her illness during the World Championships in Rwanda. A second trump card in the selection of German Cycling (formerly BDR) is Antonia Niedermaier, who finished a convincing sixth in Rwanda. However, the 117 kilometre distance with around 1,600 metres of elevation gain is likely to be too flat for the mountain specialist. Top favourite Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, on the other hand, cancelled her start at short notice. She fell ill on her journey home from the World Championships. Nevertheless, with world-class racers such as Juliette Labous and Cédrine Kerbaol, the Equipe tricolore is far from hopeless going into the race. The Dutch riders around Demi Vollering, Anna van der Breggen and the current European time trial runner-up and European road champion from ??? are likely to have the best chances. Mischa Bredewold. The Oranje team has travelled without defending champion Lorena Wiebes. The course with the steep ramp in the Val d'Enfer is likely to be too difficult for the sprint specialist. As always, the aggressive Italian Elisa Longo Borghini is a force to be reckoned with. Switzerland's Marlen Reusser, who was beaten in the road race at the World Championships and recently showed herself to be in the form of her life when she won the time trial titles at the World Championships and European Championships one after the other, is likely to move into the role of top favourite.

All information about the route, schedule, TV coverage & live stream: European Cycling Championships 2025: route, schedule, TV coverage & live stream | TOUR

Favourites - Men Elite:

***** Pogacar (Slovenia)

**** Evenepoel (Belgium)

*** Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark), Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark), Juan Ayuso (Spain)

** Mads Pedersen (Denmark), Alberto Bettiol (Italy)

Favourites - Women Elite:

***** none

**** Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy), Marlen Reusser (Switzerland)

*** Anna van der Breggen, Demi Vollering, Mischa Bredewold (all Netherlands), Elise Chabbey (Switzerland), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland)

** Juliette Labous, Cédrine Kerbaol (both France), Liane Lippert, Antonia Niedermaier (both Germany), Mavi Garcia (Spain)