The under 23 men got their turn to race on Thursday after the under 23 women. The start was fast and furious. It was as if Mathias Flückiger was on a mission for Swizterland. He set a blazing pace that ripped the race apart, and it soon became clear that the race was for second place.
After watching Switzerland's Kathrin Stirnemann not quite hold on to her lead until the end of the under 23 women's race, the Swiss fans were nervous to see Flückiger puncture twice. However, he calmly replaced his wheel, still in the lead given the large margin he had built up prior to the flat.
Niels Wubben (Netherlands) and Martin Fanger (Switzerland) engaged in a head-to-head battle for second place. Both were racing hard, but an untimely puncture in the last lap caused Fanger to drop to seventh.
Keeping cool in the heat of the battle, Niels would power on to a well-earned second place.
The Swiss continued their overall domination of the European Championships in a classy fashion as Patrick Gallati came through to take third.
The Swiss team has looked strong throughout the 2010 Championships and is a favorite for tomorrow's elite races with Christoph Sauser and Ralph Naef on the start line. However, Spain's Jose Hermida may be just the man to spoil the Swiss party; he'll be racing in conditions he is used to at home in Spain.
Record crowds are expected to cheer on the favorites on Friday in Haifa.
Full Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) | 1:52:01 |
| 2 | Niels Wubben (Netherlands) | 0:02:28 |
| 3 | Patrick Gallati (Switzerland) | 0:03:19 |
| 4 | Sebastien Carabin (Belgium) | 0:04:06 |
| 5 | Olof Jonsson (Sweden) | 0:04:17 |
| 6 | Henk Jaap Moorlag (Netherlands) | 0:05:07 |
| 7 | Martin Fanger (Switzerland) | 0:05:13 |
| 8 | Gerhard Kerschbaumer (Italy) | 0:05:21 |
| 9 | Simon Scheiber (Austria) | 0:05:37 |
| 10 | Mattias Rupp (Switzerland) | 0:05:40 |
| 11 | Marek Konwa (Poland) | 0:05:52 |
| 12 | Tiago Ferreira (Portugal) | 0:06:09 |
| 13 | Jury Ragnoli (Italy) | 0:06:25 |
| 14 | Ondrej Cink (Czech Republic) | 0:06:44 |
| 15 | Markus Bauer (Germany) | 0:07:06 |
| 16 | Alexander Gehbauer (Austria) | 0:08:00 |
| 17 | Dries Govaerts (Belgium) | 0:08:21 |
| 18 | Marco Minnaard (Netherlands) | 0:08:46 |
| 19 | Robby De Bock (Belgium) | 0:09:23 |
| 20 | Piotr Brzozka (Poland) | 0:09:33 |
| 21 | Cristian Cominelli (Italy) | 0:09:45 |
| 22 | Shlomi Haimy (Israel) | 0:10:13 |
| 23 | Sergey Nikolaev (Russian Federation) | 0:10:23 |
| 24 | Jeremy Hugenin (Switzerland) | 0:10:31 |
| 25 | Dmytro Titarenko (Ukraine) | 0:12:49 |
| 26 | Zsolt Juhasz (Hungary) | 0:14:58 |
| -1lap | Idan Shapira (Israel) | Row 26 - Cell 2 |
| -1lap | Martin Loo (Estonia) | Row 27 - Cell 2 |
| -1lap | Eliad Daniel (Israel) | Row 28 - Cell 2 |
| -1lap | Ruben Scheire (Belgium) | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
| -1lap | Ivan Smirnov (Russian Federation) | Row 30 - Cell 2 |
| -2laps | David Rodrigues (Portugal) | Row 31 - Cell 2 |
| -2laps | Thomas Litscher (Switzerland) | Row 32 - Cell 2 |
| -2laps | Jose Maria Sanchez Ruiz (Spain) | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
| -2laps | Michalis Kitis (Cyprus) | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
| -3laps | Timofey Ivanov (Russian Federation) | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
| -3laps | Oleksandr Kachanov (Ukraine) | Row 36 - Cell 2 |
| -3laps | Amotz Nehoray (Israel) | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
| -3laps | Benjamin Schmidt (Israel) | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Pascal Meyer (Switzerland) | Row 39 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Fabian Strecker (Germany) | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Mykhaylo Batsutsa (Ukraine) | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | David Lozano Riba (Spain) | Row 42 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Vasilis Adamou (Cyprus) | Row 43 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Jelmer Jubbega (Netherlands) | Row 44 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Kenneth Hansen (Denmark) | Row 45 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Ricardo Marinheiro (Portugal) | Row 46 - Cell 2 |
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