Cycling star Remco Evenepoel has claimed the European Road Cycling Championship title for the first time in his career. Having finished second last year, the Belgian lived up to his role as favourite in Slovenia. Despite a minor crash and a thrilling photo finish, he celebrated his victory in the home country of the absent defending champion, Tadej Pogacar. The Tour de France winner is still recovering from his crash at the Vuelta, but made an appearance among the fans as a spectator.
After 196.3 kilometres between the capital, Ljubljana, and the municipality of Sencur, the 26-year-old Olympic champion won by the narrowest of margins, ahead of the Italian Giulio Ciccone, following a review of the photo finish. After completing the circuit several times in the second half of the race, Christian Scaroni from Italy finished third. The best-placed German was Emil Herzog in seventh place.
A thrilling finale
The Belgians set the pace in the peloton for much of the race. With just under 36 kilometres to go, Evenepoel launched an attack, followed by Ciccone. Shortly afterwards, Evenepoel skidded on an uphill bend. However, he quickly got back on his bike.
After a small group had formed once again, the professional rider from the German Red Bull team and Ciccone pulled away once more. Shortly before the finish, the Italian overtook Evenepoel, but Evenepoel fought his way back and let out a roar of joy when he was confirmed as the winner after crossing the line.
Degenkolb and Vuelta stage winner Brenner are in the line-up
At the US rider Brandon McNulty’s surprise World Championship victory a week ago in Montreal, Evenepoel had finished only twelfth. A few days earlier, he had celebrated winning the World Time Trial Championship title for the fourth year running.
Herzog, a young professional aged just 21, surprised everyone by finishing seventh. The German squad also included Tour de France stage winner John Degenkolb. Maximilian Schachmann and Marco Brenner – who recently won a stage at the Vuelta and had previously won the Tour of Poland – were also part of the team.
The mixed team time trial is scheduled for Tuesday at the European Championships, followed a day later by the women’s and men’s individual time trials. The cycling season is drawing to a close. The Tour of Lombardy is the final major event, taking place on 10 October.
Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
