Christophe Laporte won the title of Road European Champion in the Elite Men category on the Col du Vam (Netherlands) today.
The French rider won thanks to a solo move in the last ten kilometres that enabled him to resist the return of the leading group and to get ahead of Belgian rider Wout Van Aert and Dutch rider Olfa Kooij.
Twenty-five kilometres after the start in Assen, the first breakaway of the day emerged, with five riders in the lead for more than 100 kilometres: new European Time-Trial Champion Joshua Tarling (Great Britain), Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland), Rory Townsend (Ireland), Norman Vahtra (Estonia) and Mathias Vacek (Czech Republic); Bisseger and Vacek were the last to be caught by the peloton.
In the final, the Italians first tried to create a selection, followed by Belgium and the Netherlands. The forcing resulted in the decisive move of the race, allowing a leading group to emerge, with Kron and Pedersen (Denmark), De Lie and Van Aert (Belgium), Degenkolb (Germany), Tiller (Norway), Laporte and Dujardin (France) and the Dutchmen Kooij and Teunissen.
Laporte launched the decisive attack with ten kilometres to go and quickly opened up a slight lead over the chasing group, before crossing the finish line to give France its first continental title in the Elite category.
The Junior Women's race also took place on the final day, a particularly hotly contested race won by Fleur Moors (Belgium), who beat Italy's Federica Venturelli, with whom she had attacked on the final climb to the finish line; third place went to France's Léane Tabu.
The next edition of the European Road Championships will take place in Belgium (Limburg - Flanders) from 11 to 15 September 2024.
