Héctor Álvarez (Spain) produced a powerful, gutsy ride to claim the under-23 European Championships title in Slovenia, attacking away solo in the final 13km to go one better than his result from the World Championships last week.
It wasn't all plain sailing for the 19-year-old, though, as he had originally gone solo with 34.7km to go on Friday, only to be caught on the final time up the tough Možjanca climb, which was tackled three times en route to the finish in Šenčur on Friday.
With Max Bock (Germany) chasing him down on the climb, taking Jan Michal Jackowiak (Poland) and Niels Driesen (Poland) for the ride in his wheel, Álvarez got back in the lead after following an opportunistic move from the Pole, and then countering him with some daring moves into the downhill run off of the climb.
By the time they reached the finish, Álvarez, whose heaps of talent have already seen him confirmed for a step-up to Lidl-Trek's WorldTour squad in 2027, was able to celebrate into the final kilometre as he arrived alone, 20 seconds ahead of Jackowiak.
Driesen left Bock behind in the final 4km to take the bronze medal, adding to his fifth-place finish from Worlds, and earning the Belgians something out of the day after they had done much of the chasing.
Results
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1
Hector Alvarez Martinez (Spain)
3:02:22
2
Jan Jackowiak (Poland)
0:00:20
3
Niels Driesen (Belgium)
0:00:32
4
Max Bock (Germany)
0:00:37
5
Mattia Negrente (Italy)
0:00:49
6
Daan Dijkman (Netherlands)
Row 5 - Cell 2
7
Matisse van Kerckhove (Belgium)
Row 6 - Cell 2
8
Erazem Valjavec (Slovenia)
Row 7 - Cell 2
9
Daniel Moreira (Portugal)
Row 8 - Cell 2
10
Richard Riška (Slovakia)
Row 9 - Cell 2
11
Matteo Vanhuffel (Belgium)
Row 10 - Cell 2
12
Jurgen Zomermaand (Netherlands)
0:01:00
13
Michele Bicelli (Italy)
0:01:12
14
Emil Nielsen (Denmark)
0:02:01
15
Lenaic Langella (France)
Row 14 - Cell 2
16
Soan Ruesche (France)
0:02:04
17
Eñaut Urcaregui Sanz (Spain)
0:02:08
18
Heorhii Chyzhykov (Ukraine)
Row 17 - Cell 2
19
Dawid Lewandowski (Poland)
Row 18 - Cell 2
20
Mil Morang (Luxembourg)
Row 19 - Cell 2
21
Patrick Frydkjær (Denmark)
Row 20 - Cell 2
22
Samuel Novák (Slovakia)
Row 21 - Cell 2
23
Bálint Feldhoffer (Hungary)
Row 22 - Cell 2
24
Théophile Vassal (France)
Row 23 - Cell 2
25
Kasper Borremans (Finland)
Row 24 - Cell 2
26
Kasper Haugland (Norway)
Row 25 - Cell 2
27
Jaka Marolt (Slovenia)
0:02:11
28
Viktor Soenens (Belgium)
Row 27 - Cell 2
29
Roberto Capello (Italy)
0:02:14
30
Noah Andersen (Denmark)
0:03:41
31
Louis Leidert (Germany)
0:05:30
32
Andrei Carbunarea (Romania)
0:05:32
33
Eike Behrens (Germany)
Row 32 - Cell 2
34
Gijs Schoonvelde (Netherlands)
Row 33 - Cell 2
35
Jonas Holzknecht (Austria)
Row 34 - Cell 2
36
Nicola Zumsteg (Switzerland)
0:05:34
37
Filip Surdyk (Poland)
Row 36 - Cell 2
38
Stefano Masciarelli (Italy)
0:05:37
39
Javier Cubillas Salvador (Spain)
0:05:41
40
Georg Rydningen Martinsen (Norway)
Row 39 - Cell 2
41
Jim Breitler (Switzerland)
0:05:45
42
Milan Kadlec (Czechia)
0:05:47
43
Kevin Andre Sandli Messel (Norway)
Row 42 - Cell 2
44
Matar Peretz Herdevall (Israel)
Row 43 - Cell 2
45
Maksim Mishankov (AIN)
Row 44 - Cell 2
46
Christodoulos Achas (Cyprus)
0:05:48
47
Nicolas Milesi (Italy)
Row 46 - Cell 2
48
Jonas Kind Høydahl (Norway)
Row 47 - Cell 2
49
Vicent Zaragoza Pascual (Spain)
Row 48 - Cell 2
50
Guus van den Eijnden (Netherlands)
Row 49 - Cell 2
51
Ryan Gal (Netherlands)
Row 50 - Cell 2
52
Jasper Schoofs (Belgium)
Row 51 - Cell 2
53
Maxime Vezie (France)
0:05:52
54
Fausto Valentin Penna (Germany)
0:05:58
55
Daniel Lima (Portugal)
0:06:06
56
Jon Pritržnik (Slovenia)
0:06:47
57
Flavio Astolfi (Luxembourg)
Row 56 - Cell 2
58
András Gusztáv Pakot (Hungary)
Row 57 - Cell 2
59
Ferhat Emisci (Türkiye)
0:08:52
60
Yevhen Testsov (Ukraine)
Row 59 - Cell 2
61
Valentin Poschacher (Austria)
Row 60 - Cell 2
62
Nicolas Ginter (Switzerland)
Row 61 - Cell 2
63
Simone Zanini (Italy)
0:08:54
64
Barnabás Vas (Hungary)
Row 63 - Cell 2
65
Gerard Mora Viudez (Andorra)
Row 64 - Cell 2
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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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