Cyclist
Who are the favourites for the European Championship Road Races 2024?
The European Championships are back. Running from the 11th-15th September 2024, 14 events will take place in Limburg, Flanders. The 162km women’s elite road race takes place on Saturday 14th September with the Netherlands’ Mischa Bredewold lining up to defend her title.
Likewise, France’s Christophe Laporte will also be on the start line for the 222.8km men’s elite road race on Sunday 15th September and will face strong competition for the jersey. Both routes will take riders over two circuits, one of which contains several cobbled sectors and bergs.
With plenty of others races running concurrently, including the Canadian one-day races, it doesn’t have the turnout of the World Championships and Great Britain will not be present. So who’s in the running to hold the champions’ jerseys for the next year?
Women’s race
Denmark
Since the revamp in 2016, Denmark has not medalled in the elite road race on either the women’s or men’s sides. This year they bring Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who has one victory for 2024 at the Tour Down Under, plus Emma Norsgaard who is a strong sprinter and the Danish ITT Champion.
Germany
Liane Lippert stars in the German team having arrived from the Tour de Romandie Féminin, where she came close to a sprint victory on the opening day. She grabbed a win at the Giro d’Italia earlier this season and lines up alongside German road race champion Franziska Koch.
While Germany has not won gold in the elite women’s road race at the European Championships, Lippert won a silver medal in 2021 behind the Netherlands’ Ellen van Dijk.
Italy
Italy brings a strong squad to the European Championships including Elisa Balsamo, Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini. Balsamo is in great form having picked up two victories this month at the Tour de Romandie Féminin. She will be hoping to go one better than her silver in 2022 when teammate Rachele Barbieri took bronze.
Both Consonni and Guazzini formed a powerful duo at the Olympics to win gold in the madison on the track. Consonni finished second in the Italian road race, and Guazzini is the Italian ITT champion and won the cobbled Le Samyn des Dames earlier in the year. She just helped Italy win the mixed time-trial at the European Championships too.
The Netherlands
Last year, the Netherlands raced to a spectacular 1-2 in the women’s elite road race, with Mischa Bredwold winning the gold medal and Lorena Wiebes beating Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky to silver. Both Bredewold and Wiebes will be back as just two of the team of incredibly strong riders.
Also here is Dutch ITT champion Riejanne Markus, who won a stage at the Tour de Romandie Féminin this month, plus Shirin van Anrooij. Ellen van Dijk also makes the cut with four victories against the clock this year. She just placed second in the European Championships ITT to Lotte Kopecky.
Experience on the cobbles – Wiebes won Gent-Wevelgem this year – will help the team to create or close down splits. If anyone is looking for a strong team to do the work, it will likely be them.
Luxembourg
Christine Majerus is a key helper for the big names at SD Worx-Protime, which may explain her own lack of race wins this season. She has been consistent in winning national titles, however, doubling up in the road race and time-trial from 2010 to 2023.
She was victorious in defending her road race title this year but was pipped by one second in the time-trial, the win going to Marie Schreiber – also her trade teammate.
Also: Clara Copponi, Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Marie Le Net (France); Blanka Vas (Hungary), Elise Chabbey (Switzerland).
Men’s race
Belgium
Host nation Belgium will be looking to win on home roads and have brought El Tractor Tim DeClerq to help the likes of Tim Merlier, who has won 15 races this season including the sprinter’s Classic of Scheldeprijs and three stages at the Giro d’Italia. He’s joined by Jasper Philipsen who won Milan-San Remo and three stages of the Tour de France this year, and has finished second at Paris-Roubaix two years running.
Wout van Aert will not be racing the European Championships after a nasty crash at the Vuelta a España ended his season.
Denmark
With no elite European road race medals so far, Denmark will be looking to change that. Mads Pedersen will take to the start line having recently won two stages at the Deutschland Tour alongside Søren Kragh Andersen and Kasper Asgreen who have a strong track record in the Belgian Classics.
France
Christophe Laporte won last year by a dramatic solo attack, beating trade teammates Wout van Aert and Olav Kooij. He returns to the race with no wins to his name so far this season, finishing just off the podium in Omloop Het Niewsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne but with a road race bronze medal at the Olympics. For company, Laporte has Remi Cavagna and Arnaud Démare, whose one victory this season came at his home race in the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.
France skipped all the time-trials at this European Championships but brought teams for the road races.
Italy
Italy is the most successful nation at this event thanks to a period of four consecutive years won by Matteo Trentin, Elia Viviani, Giacomo Nizzolo and Sonny Colbrelli. Trentin is here this year with the mighty force of Jonathan Milan.
Milan has raced to 11 victories this year, notably notching up a hattrick at the Giro d’Italia while taking home the points jersey. Recently he sprinted to three stage wins at the Deutschland Tour and two at the Renewi Tour. Italy also have Edoardo Affini, who just became the European ITT Champion after beating Switzerland’s Stefan Kung by 10sec and was a part of Italy’s gold medal winning mixed relay team.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands are a force to be reckoned with. World Champion Mathieu van der Poel won a silver medal in 2018, but he recently he pulled out of the Renewi Tour citing knee pain picked up during the time-trial. He’s still seen plenty of early success this season on cobbles, winning at the E3 Saxo Classic, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but placed 12th in the Olympic Games Road Race, one of his big goals for the season. He will also be focussed on the World Championships in just over two weeks.
For backup, the Netherlands have also brought sprinter Olav Kooij, who won Stage 9 at the Giro d’Italia, as well as Pascal Eenkhoorn and Mike Teunissen.
Also: John Degenkolb, Nils Politt and Max Walscheid (Germany); Jonas Abrahamsen and Alexander Kristoff (Norway), Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland).
The post Who are the favourites for the European Championship Road Races 2024? appeared first on Cyclist.