European Championships: Ravbar wins junior men's road race title

Slovenia claimed two of the three medals at the junior men's road race at the UEC Road European Championships as Anze Ravbar claimed gold with a late attack.

The 18-year-old burst from the peloton late on up the Col du VAM to end the 111km race, gaining separation from the group and crossing the line just ahead of the rest.

As he celebrated victory, France's Matys Grisel powered home for second at one second later, edging out another Slovenian, Zak Ersen.

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The race all came down to the final ascent of the Col du VAM, which featured eight times as the riders took on eight laps of the circuit. 

A group including August Theodor Clemmensen (Denmark), Erazem Valjavec (Slovenia), Felix Ørn-Kristoff (Norway), Hector Alvarez Martinez (Spain) and Andrea Montagner (Italy) had led the way partway through the race, though attacks behind, including from Jarno Widar (Belgium) shook things up.

In the end, a small group headed up the race on the final climb, with Ravbar prevailing with his late attack to claim the big victory.

"I saw that I could make a difference on the cobbles," Ravbar said later. "The race was very tough. The speed was high all the time and I couldn't take any rest. However, in the second half of the race, I saw that the other riders were getting tired and I was a little less tired. That's when I decided to gamble on the sprint.

"I took that opportunity on the cobbles on the last lap and chose to attack there. In the end, I arrived solo."

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