European Championships Men’s Road Race: Christophe Laporte takes dramatic victory

Christophe Laporte (France) claimed a dramatic victory in the men’s road race at the European Championships, denying Wout van Aert (Belgium) in the closing metres to take the title.

The Frenchman launched a daring solo attack with 12km remaining before holding off a late surge from Jumbo-Visma teammate Van Aert who finished less than a bike length behind on the climb to the line. Olav Kooij (Netherlands) finished third, completing a Jumbo-Visma clean sweep of the podium, a common theme for the team of late having achieved the same feat at the Vuelta a España.

“It’s still hard to believe,” Laporte reflected after the race. “It was a crazy finale. I felt good and I thought if I go to the sprint with people like Wout it will be difficult, so I tried and it worked.

“It was more by heart [the decision to attack]. It is hard to predict a race like this and I didn’t think so much, I just tried.”

On a day that Jumbo-Visma riders once again dominated, Laporte partly dedicated the title to another of his teammates, Nathan Van Hooydonck, who was recently forced to retire due to heart problems.

“I’d like to give the victory to the French team and to my family. Also to Nathan, I think he would be happy to see me in this jersey, I’m very happy.”

Read more: Nathan Van Hooydonck forced to retire due to heart issues

The 199km course saw the riders take on a similarly flat course as the women, with six laps of the Col du VAM circuit. The break of the day consisted of five riders and included time-trial specialists Joshua Tarling (Great Britain) and Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland). They created a gap of around two minutes before being pulled back as the race entered the first lap of the finishing circuit.

The lead group was soon whittled down to just two riders and they managed to keep the peloton at bay until around 30km to go, when the Italian team put in some hard work on the front. There were attacks from several big names but eventually Laporte saw his opportunity and headed off solo. He only maintained a small lead but the narrow and technical nature of the course helped him keep out of sight and ahead of his rivals.

At the foot of the final climb his advantage stood at twelve seconds and he managed to keep Van Aert and Kooij at bay to take the win metres before getting caught.

Late attacks decide race

The men’s road race at the European Championships took place on a 199km course, featuring six laps of the VAM-Berg circuit. After a minor skirmish for the breakaway, a group of five riders escaped up the road, consisting of Joshua Tarling (Great Britain), Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland), Rory Townsend (Ireland), Mathias Vacek (Czech Republic) and Norman Vahtra (Estonia). They built up a lead of around two minutes but were in sight of the peloton as the race approached the first lap of the VAM-Berg circuit finishing circuit.

After the first ascent of the VAM-Berg, there were just three of the escapees remaining as Tarling and Vahtra dropped away. The Danish team, working for Mads Pedersen, and the Belgians, working for Wout van Aert, pushed on at the front as well as the French team whose riders were keen to attack, with Florian Sénéchal, Axel Zingle and Anthony Turgis each having a go.

Jaka Primožič (Slovenia) and Dušan Rajović (Serbia) were the next to make a move and the peloton gave them some room in their quest to chase down the two remaining riders up front.

The Italian team soon ramped up the pace, and working together with the Dutch squad, they caught and went past the break at around 30km to go. On the penultimate lap, Christophe Laporte made his move and got a gap over the rest. He was eventually caught by a select group including Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen.

The Frenchman wasn't deterred and was able to kick again and went into the final lap with a 15-second lead. The narrow and technical nature of the course allowed the Frenchman to maintain his lead and there were crashes behind which hampered the chase.

Before the final ascent of the VAM-Berg, he had just a 12-second lead, but despite an acceleration from Van Aert and Olav Kooij, Laporte was able to hold on and take the win, seconds before being caught. It was France's first win in the event as Jumbo-Visma took a clean sweep of the podium with Van Aert in second and Kooij third.

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Jumbo-Visma riders filled the podium