Following the separation in 2018 of the Elite (Glasgow, Great Britain) and Junior/Under 23 (Brno and Zlin, Czech Republic), the 2019 Road European Championships in all categories will once again take place in the same city.
It will be the Dutch city of Alkmaar that will host this continental event in the next few days (from 7 to 11 August) where 13 titles will be awarded: 6 in the Road races and 6 in the Junior, Under 23 and Elite Men’s and Women’s Time-Trial and the Mixed Relay title. The mixed team time-trial will be raced by three men and three women from each national team, a title that will be awarded for the first time ever in history.
For five days, this northern Dutch city will welcome over 850 competitors from 40 countries who will be battling it out in very technically exciting races.
Participation will be top quality. Among those registered for the Elite Road races are some of the biggest riders from the international scene, including six stage winners of the last Tour de France: the current European Champion Matteo Trentin (Italy), Peter Sagan (Slovakia), first Elite European Champion in 2016, the Track Omnium Olympic Champion Elia Viviani (Italy), the Dutch Mike Teunissen, Dylan Groenewegen, and the Belgian Thomas De Gent, registered in the Mixed Relay race.
Also in the line up will be the former European Champion Alexander Kristoff (Norway) and other sprinters such as the former World Champion Mark Cavendish (Great Britain), winner of Milan-Sanremo, Arnaud Demare (France), Pascal Ackermann (Germany), Sam Bennet (Ireland) as well as Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) and Niki Terpstra (Netherlands), winner of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
In the Women’s events, the current European champion, Marta Bastianelli, will encounter top level opponents such as the host national country of these Championships, which will include among others, the multiple Champion Marianne Vos, the young Lorena Wiebes, recent winner of a gold medal at the Minsk European Games, multiple Track World Champion Kirsten Wild, and the powerful rider Ellen van Dijk. Among the other riders expected, who shouldn’t be underestimated, are Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark) and the Germans Lisa Brennauer and Trixi Worrak.
The Time-Trial races promise to be very interesting especially in the Men’s events with the current hour record holder, Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) and Jos van Emden (Netherlands), Filippo Ganna (Italy), Ryan Mullen (Ireland), Alex Dowsett (Great Britain) and Stefan Kung (Switzerland).
The Women’s category will feature the winner of the three European Championships raced up to now, Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) who will be up against Elisa Longoborghini (Italy), Lisa Brennauer (Germany) and Ann Sophie Duyck (Belgium).
Rocco Cattaneo, President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme: «The Netherlands has always been the cradle of cycling par excellence and it is the ideal setting to host this historic edition of the Road European Championships.
Next week a new chapter will begin in the format of the continental event..With the aim of making races even more spectacular and exciting for the general public and press, whose numbers and interest continue to grow, the distance of races will be reduced compared to the past and time-trial races will be raced on the same circuit for all categories.
We know that this will be extremely beneficial for the cycling movement and especially for such a large-scale event. Our main objective is to reach even more fans, riders and others, especially thanks to the huge support of television that will broadcast live almost all of the Alkmaar Championships in this new format. There will also be the historic new addition of the Mixed Relay following its inclusion nearly one month ago to World Championships races.
I would like to thank the Dutch Cycling Federation chaired by Marcel Wintels, the City of Alkmaar and its Mayor Piet Bruinooge, the company LIBEMA which works very closely with UEC events, and the Stichting Holland Evenementen Foundation as well as its Director Vincent Thijssen, for their commitment, professionalism and passion in organising this great sporting event.»
Information #EuroRoad19 – click here
