UEC European Championships: Mara Winter shocks the WorldTour favourites to claim women's under-23 title in tight finish

Mara Winter (Switzerland) pulled off a huge ride to crown herself European champion, seeing off a quality four-woman group that included the world champion to win the U23 women’s road race at the 2026 European Championships.

Winter was arguably the underdog as she entered the final kilometre in the company of Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia), who was crowned the U23 road race world champion last week, as well as two further WorldTour riders in the form of the Dutch pair of Nienke Vinke and Megan Arens.

But Winter, who rides at Continental level for the Nexetis team, boldly took control of the sprint, leading it out from the front and holding off the others despite the long-range effort.

Vinke was the runner-up, a wheel shy, with Chladoňová taking the bronze medal ahead of Arens.

"I can’t believe it, I think I’m dreaming," said Winter.

"To be honest, I did not dare to dream about it. I don’t know what to say. I never expected this and I never allowed myself to dream about this. It’s such a huge thing. I can’t believe it."

The U23 women’s road race was the opener of these European Championships in Slovenia, and while it measured just 88.4 kilometres, it actually contained more elevation gain than the 130km elite women’s race to come on Saturday. That’s because it was based exclusively on the finishing circuit of these Championships, with the Možjanca climb – 2.1km at 10.2% – covered four times.

The Dutch took control from the start, and while the first two ascents were whittling-down and softening-up processes, the race really opened up on the third ascent. Winter was front and centre, going clear in the company of Arens, the junior time trial world champion from last year.

On the fourth and final ascent of Možjanca, Chladoňová and Vienke went clear of the rest of the vastly-reduced chase group and steadily worked their way across to Winter and Arens on the steep gradients. They hadn’t even made contact when Vienke launched a big attack, which was followed by another move from Arens nearer the top, but they crested together as a quartet, and rode over the plateau and down the descent into the finale.

Any room for tactical manouevre for the Dutch, however, was threatened by the six-woman chase group that emerged on the climb and that ate into the gap in the latter phases. With around 7km to go it was 30 seconds but they closed to within 10 seconds at 4km to go. The front group had to work well together to keep them at bay, and the sting went out of the chase with 2km to go, leaving the front four to fight it out in a sprint.

Chladoňová moved her way to the front, but Winter boldly pushed her way into the lead for the final right-hand bend with 500 metres to go. She took pole position, but looked like something of a sitting duck with the others in her wheel and a long way to the line. Remarkably, however, she wound up her speed and held off her increasingly desperate rivals for a brilliant victory and a major title.

Results

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.