UEC European Road Championships: Routes, start lists and how to watch

Cyclist
UEC European Road Championships: Routes, start lists and how to watch

Belgium will host the 2024 European Championships, the first time that nation has done so since the event’s revamp in 2016. More specifically, Limburg will play host to the week of racing.

All races will go from Heusden-Zolder, home of one of the classic cyclocross courses, to Hasselt, with flat time-trials for the purists and road races that are headlined by several cobbled sectors and short bergs.

It’s no Flanders though, so expect a lot of the hardy sprinters to be in contention at the end of the races. We’re talking Lorena Wiebes and Elisa Balsamo in the women’s road race while Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan will be hoping to overcome Classics powerhouses Mathieu van der Poel and Mads Pedersen on the men’s side.

Time-trials take place on Wednesday 11th September and the elite road races are on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th.

Men’s individual time-trial

The time-trial sets out from Heusden-Zolder, a regular host on the cyclocross circuit and two-time host of the UCI Road World Championships. The route is shaped like a question mark from Zolder. The arrival into Hasselt follows the path of the Albertkanaal. The finish line comes on the inner ring road of Hasselt, right by the city’s university.

The profile is pan-flat with no vertical challenges. At 31km in length, it continues the recent trend of shorter time-trial distances. It is, therefore, not too dissimilar from the profile tackled by the riders in Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games time-trial.

Filippo Ganna has announced that he will skip the European Championships while reigning champion Josh Tarling will also not be in attendance given Britain’s decision not to send a team for the week’s events. The Swiss duo of Stefan Küng and Stefan Bissegger will start as favourites, both having won the event before. Also, keep an eye out for Italians Mattia Cattaneo and Edoardo Affini being among the medals.

Start list

Women’s individual time-trial

The women will ride the same course as the men. This 31.2km ride from Zolder to Hasselt will see riders looking to become the new European champion in the absence of Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser.

The Dutchwomen will start as favourites. Victory will see Ellen van Dijk, a quadruple European champion, become the oldest European champion in the women’s sport.

Christina Schweinberger and Riejanne Markus are among other race favourites. Lotte Kopecky will carry the hopes of Belgium while reigning champions Switzerland will count on Elena Hartman with three-time winner Reusser still out.

Start list

Mixed relay

On Thursday everyone’s favourite discipline is back for its fourth inclusion at the European Championships. There has yet to be a repeat winner but Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have been up there each time and France are the reigning champs.

The men will ride almost the same route as the individual TT, before the women finish off with couple of more technical laps in the east side of Hasselt.

The only teams in this year’s race are Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belgium, Poland, Italy and Germany. Expect it to be a battle between the final two for the victory.

Women’s road race

The road race routes again go from Heusden-Zolder to Hasselt but head further south to also take in some cobbled sections and bergs. There are a couple of circuits that the riders will take on. The finishing circuit in Hasselt will be done 1.5 times on the way south and again at the finish, and the circuit that encompasses the sectors will be done twice.

It’s not the most challenging parcours with only 905m of elevation but the short bergs and cobbles could form splits, especially over 162.1km.

The Netherlands will go in as favourites, boasting a startlist that includes Lorena Wiebes and Shirin van Anrooij, and the course should be within Wiebes’s capabilities – if she’s still at the front of the race at the end she’ll be the favourite to take the win.

Italy also pose a real threat. On strong form after the Tour de Romandie, Elisa Balsamo will also start as a big favourite, and is one of a few riders who can get close to Wiebes in a sprint.

Start list

Men’s road race

The men’s road race will take place over the same roads as the women’s but with more laps of the circuits. The Hasselt circuit will be ridden 3.5 times to start with and 1.5 times at the end while the Limburg circuit with the bergs and cobbles will be taken on three times.

This year’s race promises a field of Classics superstars. Reigning world champion Mathieu van der Poel will be looking to add another international jersey to his collection. He will start as the favourite for the blue-striped European champion’s jersey. He will be joined by an in-form Olav Kooij who recently claimed the BEMER Cyclassic in Germany. Kooij came close last year with a bronze medal in the road race.

Leading the host nation will be Jasper Philipsen, a two-time runner-up at Paris-Roubaix. Mads Pedersen will also start as a firm favourite after recently reigniting his season with a win at the Deutschland Tour. His Lidl-Trek teammate Jonathan Milan will start as Italy’s leader. His recent run of form was highlighted at the Renewi Tour where he claimed a handful of stages against a stacked sprinting field.

Start list

Junior and under-23 events

Limburg will host a plethora of events for younger riders in both the under-23 and junior categories. Notably, the women will get their own under-23 race, while all the time-trials apart from the junior women’s race will be on the same route as the elite races. The junior women’s time-trial is shorter at 13.3km, which is direct from Heusden-Zolder to Hasselt.

Likewise in the road races the junior women have the shortest course at 73km, which cuts out the Limburg circuit, going from Heusden-Zolder to Hasselt and then doing three laps of that circuit. The junior men’s race is 129.8km with 1.5 laps of the Hasselt circuit early on and again to finish, with just one lap of the Limburg circuit in the middle.

The U23 women’s race is like the junior women’s route, cutting the bergs and cobbles out for a pan flat 101.5km. They do five laps of the Hasselt circuit. The U23 men route is the same as the elite women’s route.

European Road Championships: How to watch

The elite races will be broadcast across the continent including on Eurosport and Discovery+, with time-trials from 14:00 to 16:50 on Wednesday 11th, mixed relay from 13:20 to 15:25 on Thursday, the women’s road race on Saturday from 12:30 to 16:45 and the men’s road race on Sunday from 11:25 to 17:05.

A lot of the Junior and U23 races will also be broadcast in Belgium, with Sporza showing all the time-trials and VRT1 showing the U23 road races.

The UEC website will also be live streaming all the races, find that here.

Official broadcasters

• Belgium: Tipik, Sporza, VRT1
• France: L’Équipe
• Italy: Rai Sport
• Netherlands: NOS, NPO1
• Norway: NRK1
• Pan Europe: Eurosport
• Poland: TVP Sport
• Switzerland: RSI
• Worldwide: uec.ch

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