European Cycling Championships: Evenepoel beats Ciccone by a few millimeters

Remco Evenepoel won the men’s elite road race at the 2026 European Cycling Championships: the Lidl-Trek rider beat Giulio Ciccone in a sprint finish at the Sencur finish line. The Italian, who had started first, was overtaken by the Belgian star, who thus succeeds Tadej Pogacar, who was absent due to injury.

Another Italian, Christian Scaroni, also made it onto the podium, taking the bronze medal. The route from Ljubljana to Sencur was 196.3 km long. The heavy favorite, Evenepoel, crashed at the top of the penultimate climb at Mozjanca, but managed to get back on his bike and catch up to the Italian by counterattacking on the descent.

The two arrived together in the final stretch of the race, and the European title was decided in a sprint—and thus by a photo finish. Ciccone edged out his rival but was overtaken by just a few millimeters right at the finish line, so much so that the official result took several minutes to be announced. Scaroni finished 59 seconds later, earning a well-deserved bronze medal.

“It’s fantastic. “I want to thank my teammates; we rode the race exactly as we wanted to,” Evenepoel said. “There was a tough moment on the penultimate lap when I slipped. I could have lost everything, but I stayed calm and attacked after the descent, finding myself back with Ciccone. We worked well together, but then in the sprint, it got really close. I thought I wouldn’t make it, but then I saw him slow down 100 meters from the finish and managed to pass him right at the line. I’m happy and proud of this performance.”