After finishing runner-up in the UCI Road World Championships time trial and in the UEC UEC European Championships road race, Nienke Vinke (Netherlands) bagged herself a title with a storming victory in the U23 women's time trial at the Europeans on Wednesday.
The Dutchwoman got the better of her own compatriot Megan Arens, with the road race world champion Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia) taking the bronze medal.
Those three riders were all in the four-woman group that contested the finale of the U23 women's road race last week, but all left without gold as they were stunned by Mara Winter (Switzerland), who was ninth today.
But Vinke, who's 22 and has been racing at WorldTour level since 2023, made her power and experience count on the 22km course in Slovenia that was effectively one lap of the circuit used in the road races.
With the brutal Možjanca climb (2km at 10%), a rolling plateau, and a fast descent back towards the finish, it was a tough all-round test, but Vienke dominated the course.
As the last starter, she was nine seconds up on Arens, three years her junior, after the flat opening 8km, and by the end of the plateau that followed the Možjanca climb she was 30 seconds to the good over Arens and Chladoňová.
There were no issues on the descent and she stopped the clock on 32:26 to win by 36 seconds from Arens and 42 seconds from Chladoňová.
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Results
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Position
Rider (country)
Time
1
Nienke Vinke (Netherlands)
32:36
2
Megan Arens (Netherlands)
0:36
3
Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia)
0:42
4
Justyna Czapla (Germany)
0:51
5
Emma Siegers (Belgium)
1:23
6
Paula Ostiz (Spain)
1:27
7
Tabea Huys (Austria)
1:48
8
Mara Winter (Switzerland)
2:09
9
Febe Jooris (Belgium)
2:11
10
Silje Weitze Antvorskov (Denmark)
2:18
11
Julia Kopecký (Czech Republic)
2:37
12
Eliška Kvasničková (Czech Republic)
2:40
13
Martyna Szczęsna (Poland)
2:45
14
Oda Aune Gissinger (Norway)
2:51
15
Gwen Nothum (Luxembourg)
3:03
16
Liv Wenzel (Luxembourg)
3:05
17
Wilma Aintila (Finland)
3:06
18
Nadia Hartman (Poland)
3:13
19
Celia Torres (Spain)
3:21
20
Milana Ushakova (Ukraine)
4:13
21
Sofia Ungerová (Slovakia)
4:17
22
Zoja Ferlež (Slovenia)
6:12
23
Yuliia Pchelintseva (Ukraine)
6:20
24
Raquel Dias (Portugal)
6:55
25
Anet Trakonja (Slovenia)
7:16
26
Emília Baía (Portugal)
8:30
27
Ana-Elena Gheorghe (Romania)
9:55
28
Fatmanur Doğan (Türkiye)
13:46
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Patrick is an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish) and a decade’s experience in digital sports media, largely within the world of cycling. He re-joined Cyclingnews as Deputy Editor in February 2026, having previously spent eight years on staff between 2015 and 2023. In between, he was Deputy Editor at GCN and spent 18 months working across the sports portfolio at Future before returning to the cycling press pack. Patrick works across Cyclingnews’ wide-ranging output, assisting the Editor in global content strategy, with a particular focus on shaping CN's news operation.
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