On the second day of the Road European Championships being held in the Province of Drenthe (Netherlands), the Mixed Team Relay races took place today, which also saw the title reserved for the Juniors category awarded for the first time, in addition to the title reserved for the Elites.
The races, with the Mixed Relay formula where each nation lined up three women and three men at the start, took place in Emmen and Italy dominated in the Juniors category.
Andrea Bessega, Andrea Montagner, Luca Giami, Eleonora La Bella, Alice Toniolli and Federica Venturelli (winner of yesterday's Individual Time-Trial) won at more than 48 kilometres an hour and completed the two laps of the course (one for the Women's trio and one for the Men's trio) 26" ahead of Germany and 35" ahead of France.
The Elite race was particularly hotly contested, with the Italian men's trio (Matteo Sobrero, Mattia Cattaneo and Edoardo Affini) setting the fastest time at the end of the first lap, but France's Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Cedrine Kerbaol and Juliette Labous managed to gain more than 20" on the Italians to take the continental title.
The French team, including Benjamin Thomas, Bruno Armirail and Remi Cavagna, won with a total time of 44'23" (average speed 52.170 km/h). Silver for Italy at just 5'', third place at 23'' for Germany with Max Walscheid, Jannik Steimle, Miguel Heidemann, Lisa Klein, Franziska Koch and Mieke Kröger.
The Road European Championships continue tomorrow, Friday 22 September, with the first Road races: the Men's Under 23 from Hoogeveen to the Col du Vam (136.5km, start at 9.30am) and the Women's Under 23 from Coevorden to the Col du Vam (108km, start at 2.30pm).
