Bastianelli claims European Road Race title

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Marta Bastianelli (Italy) won the sprint of a reduced group to win the Women's European Championship ahead of defending champion Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Lisa Brennauer (Germany).

"It's a very hard race, and this win is for my team, because my teammates stayed with me from start to finish," Bastianelli said.

"The sprint was very hard but I think it was very technical. Yesterday we said we had to be top three in the last corner. It was crazy, because it was very hard and fast. I don't know how many kilometers per hour it was but it was very hard."

The race was marked by numerous break groups, with the last being caught with only 1km to go. The Dutch women dominated much of the day, but in the end they were unable to use their advantage.

Several breakaways formed and were caught before a quintet established itself: Lucinda Brand (Netherlands), Lisa Klein (Germany), Nadia Quagliotto (Italy), Juliette Labous (France) and Sophie Wright (Great Britain). Approaching the finish line to start on the fifth lap, Klein jumped from the group, crossing some 30 seconds behind Wright and 19 seconds ahead of the other three, with the field at 2:14.

With 61km to go, the gap to Wright, now alone, had grown to over a minute, with the field more than 2:30 down. They started giving serious chase, with Spain and the Netherlands leading the way. The gaps stayed roughly the same as the sixth lap started, the peloton having relaxed its efforts.

The big names suddenly became more active, unwilling to let the 19-year-old Briton take the race unchallenged. With 48km to go the gap had dropped to under two minutes, with most of the pressure coming from Germany and the Netherlands. A crash near the end of the lap involved Labous, who appeared to be injured.

The start of the next lap saw the gap down to just under a minute, with constant attacks coming from the field. They soon had Wright in their sights. After she was caught, a new lead group consisting of World Champion Chantal Blaak (Netherlands), Alice Barnes (Great Britain) and Elena Cecchini (Italy) formed. They went into the penultimate lap with 24 seconds over a greatly diminished peloton.

The German women went to the head of the field, and led to the catch with 22.3km to go. The Dutch didn't let up, attacking one after the other. Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) formed a dangerous lead group with 21km left. Great Britain's Dani Rowe moved up on the ascent, the only one able to make a dent in the gap. She made it up to the two leaders just before the end of the lap.

This trio set out on the final lap with a 40-seconds lead. Floortje Mackaij (Netherlands) and Aude Biannic (France) gave chase, and caught up with 11.5km to go. Despite their riders up front, the Dutch continued to lead the chasing group.

With just under 8km to go, Van der Breggen attacked, and only Longo Borghini could go with her. The three chasers soon faded back into the peloton. It looked as though the duo would stay away, but with Van der Breggen refusing to pull and Longo Borghini unable to get rid of the Olympic champion, their cooperation stalled. They were caught at the 1km marker, leaving a group of about 25 to contest the sprint.

Orange jerseys led the way to the finish, but it was Marta Bastianelli (Italy) who jumped for the win, ahead of Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Lisa Brennauer (Germany).

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