European Championships: Henrik Pedersen wins under-23 men's road race title

18-year-old Dane Henrik Pedersen dropped 20-year-old Movistar rider Ivan Romeo to win the UEC European Championships under-23 road race title.

The powerful Danish rider spent most of the 136.5km race on the attack with Romeo and Mateusz Gajdulewicz (Poland) but attacked alone on the final lap and climb up to the Col du Vam to win alone. 

The chase group containing many of the pre-race favourites finished 38 seconds behind Pedersen, with Paul Magnier of France taking the bronze medal. 

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Pederen won the Danish junior road race title in 2022 and completed the Giro Next Gen in 2023, in his first season as an under-23 rider. He will ride for the Uno X Development Team in 2024 and then step-up to the Uno-X ProTeam in 2026.

Pedersen, Romeo and Gajdulewicz were allowed to open a gap of 3:45 on the 65 km loop before the five laps of the Col du Vam circuit. In the peloton a stalemate amongst the major nations emerged, stalling the chase, while the trio pushed on.  

They led the peloton by 1:30 with two of the 13.7km laps to race, with Gajdulewicz dropped as the Col du Vam and cross winds began to hurt. 

The chase peloton included 60 riders but they struggled to reduce the gap and the bell rang out with Pedersen and Romeo still 1:30 ahead.

Pedersen used his power on the cobbled section of the Col du Vam to crack Romeo and rode solo to the finish line atop the former rubbish landfill site that has been transformed into a cycling circuit.    

The under-23 women’s road race is held later on Friday, with the elite women’s and junior men’s races on Saturday, and the junior women’s and elite men’s road races on Sunday.  

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