Colbrelli wins European road title
Evenepoel can't shake Italian champion, Cosnefroy takes bronze
Sonny Colbrelli (Italy) won the men's road race at the European Championships in front of a home crowd, prevailing in a two-up sprint against Remco Evenepoel (Belgium).
Though the pre-race favourite lived up to his billing, it was anything but a predictable race. A ferocious start saw multiple breakaways form and re-form before a nine-man group escaped 60km from the finish. Evenepoel attacked this group on the penultimate ascent of the Povo with an acceleration so fierce that only Colbrelli and Benoît Cosnefroy (France) could follow.
Another surge from the Belgian distanced Cosnefroy on the final ascent of this climb, but despite Evenepoel's best efforts, he could not shake Colbrelli, and in the final sprint Colbrelli was victorious. Cosnefroy crossed the line 1:30 later to take the bronze medal.
"It's fantastic because I had a super team and in the final [Matteo] Trentin was super," Colbrelli said at the finish, "I followed Remco in the final climb. I'm very happy for this victory - it is double because it was achieved in Italy."
How it unfolded
The road began to rise as soon as the race left the neutral roll out and, on these slopes, the breakaway struggled to form. A quartet comprised of Antonio Jesus Soto Guirao (Spain), Aurélien Paret-Peintre (France), Franck Bonnamour (France), Harm Vanhoucke (Belgium) eventually escaped. They seemed reluctant to fully commit, and though their languid pace was initially matched by the Italian-led peloton, their advantage never exceeded a minute and a half.
On the next climb, the Vigo Cavedine, the small time gap tempted attacks from the peloton as multiple riders sought to join the breakaway. A strong group containing Thibaut Pinot (France), four Spanish riders: Roger Adria, David de la Cruz, Gorka Izaguirre and Mikel Landa, Felix Großschartner (Austria), Sébastien Reichenbach (Switzerland), and Jonas Rapp (Germany) bridged across. The Italians, sensing the danger posed by this increasingly powerful group, sent Andrea Bagioli to foil its endeavours and, once again, the breakaway's advantage never exceeded a minute and a half.
Twenty kilometres later, on the ascent and descent of the Candriai, the race exploded. First, the breakaway disintegrated as Landa and Bonnamour were both dropped. Then, Romain Bardet (France), Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Gianni Moscon (Italy) and Pavel Sivakov (Russia) launched a short-lived, speculative attack from the peloton, still 116km from the finish. The corresponding acceleration doomed the breakaway's efforts and it was a fragmented race that entered the finishing circuit.
Two large groups crossed the finish line for the first time, but on the Povo climb the race regrouped and, as the pace momentarily dropped, another fleeting breakaway formed. Diego Ulissi (Italy) caught this quartet with acceleration, but the group was soon caught by the peloton. With 85km still to race, only 48 riders remained while there had been four separate breakaways, all reabsorbed back into the peloton.
In the end, it took an échappée royale composed of Mark Padun (Ukraine), Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia), Matteo Trentin (Italy), Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) and Markus Hoelgaard (Norway) to escape the peloton and they built up an advantage of 36 seconds with 68km to go. Spooked by this move, France took control of the peloton, burning through riders alarmingly fast in their desperation to close the gap. Their pace distanced the majority of the peloton and the few who survived bridged up to the breakaway.
As Campenaerts and Padun were dropped in this mêlée, a nine-man group formed out front composed of Trentin, Colbrelli, Hoelgaard, Sivakov, Pogačar, Cosnefroy, Evenepoel, Ben Hermans (Belgium) and Marc Hirschi (Switzerland).
Wary of those in this group possessing a stronger sprint than him, Evenepoel attacked on the penultimate ascent of the Povo, 22km from the finish. His acceleration was partially successful, distancing three-quarters of his rivals, but two of the fastest finishers in Colbrelli and Cosnefroy were able to follow. Largely driven by Evenepoel, this group amassed a minute's lead and, by the last lap, it was clear that they would be fighting for victory.
Cosnefroy too was dropped on the next and final ascent of the Povo but Colbrelli clung on, and, in front of a gleeful, Italian crowd some numbers deep at the finish, he won the sprint to take a memorable victory.
Pos. | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Sonny Colbrelli (Italy) | 4:19:45 |
2 | Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) | |
3 | Benoit Cosnefroy (France) | 0:01:30 |
4 | Matteo Trentin (Italy) | 0:01:44 |
5 | Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) | |
6 | Marc Hirschi (Switzerland) | |
7 | Markus Hoelgaard (Norway) | |
8 | Ben Hermans (Belgium) | 0:01:46 |
9 | Pavel Sivakov (Russian Federation) | 0:01:49 |
10 | Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) | 0:05:41 |
11 | Stan Dewulf (Belgium) | 0:05:49 |
12 | Romain Bardet (France) | |
13 | Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) | 0:05:50 |
14 | João Almeida (Portugal) | 0:06:00 |
15 | Diego Ulissi (Italy) | |
16 | Simon Geschke (Germany) | |
17 | Bauke Mollema (Netherlands) | 0:06:15 |
18 | Rui Costa (Portugal) | 0:09:13 |
19 | Koen Bouwman (Netherlands) | |
20 | Michael Kukrle (Czech Republic) | |
21 | Dmitrii Strakhov (Russian Federation) | |
22 | Felix Grossschartner (Austria) | |
23 | Odd Christian Eiking (Norway) | |
24 | Matteo Badilatti (Switzerland) | |
25 | Warren Barguil (France) | |
26 | Sergei Chernetskii (Russian Federation) | |
27 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Switzerland) | |
28 | Nelson Oliveira (Portugal) | |
29 | Roger Adria Oliveras (Spain) | 0:09:16 |
30 | Gianni Moscon (Italy) | 0:09:21 |
31 | Harm Vanhoucke (Belgium) | |
DNF | Philippe Gilbert (Belgium) | |
DNF | Dylan Teuns (Belgium) | |
DNF | Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) | |
DNF | Franck Bonnamour (France) | |
DNF | Valentin Madouas (France) | |
DNF | Aurélien Paret Peintre (France) | |
DNF | Pierre-Luc Périchon (France) | |
DNF | Thibaut Pinot (France) | |
DNF | Ziga Jerman (Slovenia) | |
DNF | Domen Novak (Slovenia) | |
DNF | David Per (Slovenia) | |
DNF | Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands) | |
DNF | Timo Roosen (Netherlands) | |
DNF | Ide Schelling (Netherlands) | |
DNF | Julius van den Berg (Netherlands) | |
DNF | Nick van der Lijke (Netherlands) | |
DNF | Giovanni Aleotti (Italy) | |
DNF | Andrea Bagioli (Italy) | |
DNF | Mattia Cattaneo (Italy) | |
DNF | Filippo Ganna (Italy) | |
DNF | David de la Cruz (Spain) | |
DNF | Imanol Erviti (Spain) | |
DNF | Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spain) | |
DNF | Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spain) | |
DNF | Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spain) | |
DNF | Mikel Landa Meana (Spain) | |
DNF | Antonio Jesus Soto Guirao (Spain) | |
DNF | Miguel Heidemann (Germany) | |
DNF | Florian Lipowitz (Germany) | |
DNF | Jonas Rapp (Germany) | |
DNF | Jonas Rutsch (Germany) | |
DNF | Immanuel Stark (Germany) | |
DNF | Jannik Steimle (Germany) | |
DNF | Georg Steinhauser (Germany) | |
DNF | Fabian Lienhard (Switzerland) | |
DNF | Gino Mäder (Switzerland) | |
DNF | Simon Pellaud (Switzerland) | |
DNF | Roland Thalmann (Switzerland) | |
DNF | Yannis Voisard (Switzerland) | |
DNF | Ruben Guerreiro (Portugal) | |
DNF | Rui Oliveira (Portugal) | |
DNF | Rafael Reis (Portugal) | |
DNF | Pavel Kochetkov (Russian Federation) | |
DNF | Roman Maikin (Russian Federation) | |
DNF | Denis Nekrasov (Russian Federation) | |
DNF | Artem Nych (Russian Federation) | |
DNF | Kristian Aasvold (Norway) | |
DNF | Sven Erik Bystrøm (Norway) | |
DNF | Alexander Kristoff (Norway) | |
DNF | Andreas Leknessund (Norway) | |
DNF | Sam Bennett (Ireland) | |
DNF | Conn McDunphy (Ireland) | |
DNF | Ryan Mullen (Ireland) | |
DNF | Matthew Teggart (Ireland) | |
DNF | Marcin Budzinski (Poland) | |
DNF | Michal Golas (Poland) | |
DNF | Jakub Kaczmarek (Poland) | |
DNF | Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Poland) | |
DNF | Maciej Paterski (Poland) | |
DNF | Szymon Tracz (Poland) | |
DNF | Felix Gall (Austria) | |
DNF | Marco Haller (Austria) | |
DNF | Hermann Pernsteiner (Austria) | |
DNF | Sebastian Schönberger (Austria) | |
DNF | Jan Bárta (Czech Republic) | |
DNF | Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) | |
DNF | Adam Toupalík (Czech Republic) | |
DNF | Daniel Turek (Czech Republic) | |
DNF | Juraj Bellan (Slovakia) | |
DNF | Marek Canecky (Slovakia) | |
DNF | Martin Haring (Slovakia) | |
DNF | Juraj Sagan (Slovakia) | |
DNF | Peter Sagan (Slovakia) | |
DNF | Patrik Tybor (Slovakia) | |
DNF | Gert Kivistik (Estonia) | |
DNF | Karl Patrick Lauk (Estonia) | |
DNF | Mihkel Räim (Estonia) | |
DNF | Rein Taaramäe (Estonia) | |
DNF | Norman Vahtra (Estonia) | |
DNF | Anatolii Budiak (Ukraine) | |
DNF | Vitaliy Buts (Ukraine) | |
DNF | Oleksandr Holovash (Ukraine) | |
DNF | Mykhaylo Kononenko (Ukraine) | |
DNF | Andrii Kulyk (Ukraine) | |
DNF | Mark Padun (Ukraine) | |
DNF | Kévin Geniets (Luxembourg) | |
DNF | Michel Ries (Luxembourg) | |
DNF | Luc Wirtgen (Luxembourg) | |
DNF | Jan Petelin (Luxembourg) | |
DNF | Aleksandr Riabushenko (Belarus) | |
DNF | Emil Dima (Romania) | |
DNF | Edgaras Kovaliovas (Lithuania) | |
DNF | Venantas Lašinis (Lithuania) | |
DNF | Evaldas Siskevicius (Lithuania) | |
DNF | Viktor Filutás (Hungary) | |
DNF | Barnabás Peák (Hungary) | |
DNF | János Zsombor Pelikán (Hungary) | |
DNF | Attila Valter (Hungary) | |
DNF | Lucas Eriksson (Sweden) | |
DNF | Kim Magnusson (Sweden) | |
DNF | Georgios Boutopoulos (Greece) | |
DNF | Marolino Hoxha (Albania) | |
DNF | Mejdin Malhani (Albania) | |
DNF | Ylber Sefa (Albania) | |
DNF | Olsian Velia (Albania) | |
DNF | Ukko Peltonen (Finland) | |
DNF | Omer Goldstein (Israel) | |
DNF | Guy Sagiv (Israel) | |
DNF | Josip Rumac (Croatia) | |
DNF | Spas Gyurov (Bulgaria) | |
DNF | Hafsteinn Geirsson (Iceland) | |
DNF | Ingvar Omarsson (Iceland) | |
DNF | Cristian Raileanu (Moldova) | |
DNF | Andrej Petrovski (North Macedonia) | |
DNF | Andreas Miltiadis (Cyprus) | |
DNF | Antoine Berlin (Monaco) | |
DNF | Victor Langellotti (Monaco) | |
DNF | Musa Mikayilzade (Azerbaijan) | |
DNS | Jan Maas (Netherlands) |
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Issy Ronald has just graduated from the London School of Economics where she studied for an undergraduate and masters degree in History and International Relations. Since doing an internship at Procycling magazine, she has written reports for races like the Tour of Britain, Bretagne Classic and World Championships, as well as news items, recaps of the general classification at the Grand Tours and some features for Cyclingnews. Away from cycling, she enjoys reading, attempting to bake, going to the theatre and watching a probably unhealthy amount of live sport.
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