Yet another solo by Tadej Pogačar: his is also the European title

Tadei Pogačar lacked a gap to fill in his remarkable career: the European title, but simply because he had competed only once, finishing fifth in 2021.

The Slovenian Cannibal, a week after his world solo in Rwanda, triumphed in his own way in the Élite continental race in France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, 202.5 kilometers of a tough course starting in Privas and finishing in Guilherand-Granges.

Barely to say it, Pogačar sprinted away with about 75 km to go and finished 30 seconds ahead of his die-hard rival, Remco Evenepoel, the only one to resist him for a brief moment when the Slovenian took off on the third and final pass of the Saint-Romain-de-Lerps climb.

Evenepoel finished 31 seconds behind Pogačar but the relatively small gap is explained by the fact that Tadej celebrated for the last 500 meters of the race. Coming in third at 3’41” was 19-year-old French hopeful Paul Seixas, who denied bronze to Christian Scaroni, fourth at 4’04”.