Two years after her triumph at Munich 2022, Lorena Wiebes won the 2024 Elite Road European Championships in Hasselt (Belgium) today.
The talented Dutch athlete won after a massive sprint beating Italy's Elisa Balsamo, second behind Wiebes in Munich, and Poland's Daria Pikulik.
After the start in Heusden-Zolder, the first action of the day saw Nikola Nosková (Czech Republic) in the lead for almost 30 kilometres, followed shortly afterwards by Spaniards Mirela Benito and Sara Martin. The Netherlands, France, Norway, Italy and Denmark then controlled the other half of the race. The final sprint was inevitable, and Wiebes won decisively after putting the finishing touches to her team's work.
The day began with the Junior Men's Road race, won by Felix Ørn-Kristoff. The strong Norwegian athlete, who is the younger half-brother of 2017 European Road champion Alexander Kristoff, won after a particularly hard-fought race, beating Spain's Héctor Álvarez and France's Paul Seixas in a tight sprint.
After a particularly fast start, a group consisting of Linus Larsson (Sweden), Jasper Schoofs and Nio Vandevorst (Belgium), Adam Pešek (Czech Republic), Eliott Boulet (France), Rob Ebner (Slovenia), Louis Grupp (Germany) and Peder Wettre Andreassen (Norway) formed at the front, before being caught by the peloton with less than sixty kilometres to go.
The decisive move came on one of the climbs that characterise the Limburg circuit, with Héctor Álvarez and Paul Seixas attacking, joined shortly afterwards by Felix Ørn-Kristoff.
In the final kilometres of the race, the leading trio managed to hold off the chasing pack to take victory in a sprint, won by Ørn-Kristoff, bronze medallist at last year's World Championships.
Tomorrow, Sunday 15 September, the last two European titles will be awarded in Hasselt: the Women's Juniors Road race (72.9 km, start at 9.00) and the Men's Elite Road race (222.8 km, start at 12.30). Both races will start from Heusden-Zolder.
