“Our best map is not a massive sprint”Christophe Laporte admitted before the start of the European Road Cycling Championships on Sunday 15 September in Limburg, Belgium. The Frenchman knew that the course of the race – these 222 kilometres with no great difficulty, with 1,273 metres of positive gradient – suited the fastest riders in the peloton such as the “locals” Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier, the Italian Jonathan Milan or the Dutchman Olav Kooij. Despite his great speed, the Varois was not the favourite candidate to succeed him.
The course was still winding and there were still some cobbled sections to try to make a difference, to liven up the race… But, here too, it was necessary to remain attentive, because there was the reigning world champion, Mathieu van der Poel. In fact, the event was more eventful than one might expect, partly thanks to the Dutchman. The French too, determined to play their card until the end. In addition to Christophe Laporte, the Tricolores could also count on their sprinter Arnaud Démare.
But it was Tim Marlier who won in front of an ecstatic crowd. Dutchman Olav Kooij finished 2ndmyEstonian Madis Mihkels completes the podium. Belgium finally scores its first success in the race, after nine editions and a series of second places – Yves Lampaert (2019), Remco Evenepoel (2021), Wout van Aert (2023) – and at home, in front of nearly 100,000 spectators on the roads this Sunday.
Lorena Wiebes recovers her tunic
The story is all the more beautiful as the man concerned, who suffered a puncture 90 kilometres from the finish line, had to fight to catch up with the leading group. “It’s incredible. I knew it was a race for me, I was starting to believe it little by little. [pendant l’épreuve]Then 300 meters from the line, I told myself it was over”explained the winner of the day, who came from the right and overtook everyone in the final, while he seemed trapped. After my second Belgian championship title [en 2022]I said I still had one goal left: that was it. I’m very happy. » Two years ago, Tim Merlier was overtaken in the sprint by Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen and Arnaud Démare, finishing “only” third.my.
For both men and women, the 2024 edition of the European Championships will have crowned the favourites. The day before, Lorena Wiebes won the 162-kilometre race, which was run against the wind. The Dutchwoman beat the Italian Elisa Balsamo and the Polish Daria Pikulik in the sprint; the French Clara Copponi finished at the foot of the podium, 4thmyThe 25-year-old is wearing the star-studded jersey she gave herself in 2022 in Munich and which she had to give up to her compatriot Mischa Bredewold last year in front of her home crowd at the Col du Vam in the province of Drenthe. We will therefore have to wait a little longer to find a successor to the transalpine Marta Bastianelli, the only non-Batavian rider to have won the European title since the creation of the competition in 2016.
