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Evenepoel beats Ciccone in photo finish for European title
Remco Evenepoel won the 2026 UEC European Road Championships elite men's road race on 4 October in Šencur, Slovenia, beating Giulio Ciccone in a photo finish. Both riders were given the same time of 4:16:37, with Christian Scaroni third at 59 seconds and Toms Skujiņš fourth at 1:13. Neither rider knew who had won the sprint, and only after several minutes did the photo finish confirm Evenepoel as the winner.
What this means
The win gives Evenepoel the European road race title, the one elite championship jersey missing from his palmares alongside his Belgian national and World road race titles. He is now the first rider to have won both the road race and time trial titles at the European and World Championships. It is also Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's first European Championship title in the elite road race category.
Evenepoel attacked on the penultimate ascent of the Možjanca climb with 36–37 kilometres to go, but crashed on the first corner of the descent after carrying too much speed into the bend. Ciccone, who had followed the attack, was briefly alone at the front before Belgium brought the race back together. Evenepoel attacked again with 32 kilometres remaining, and this time Ciccone followed him; the two stayed clear together over the final ascent of Možjanca and extended their lead over the chase, which stood at 30 seconds with 20 kilometres to go before growing to 40 seconds as Evenepoel's teammates disrupted the pursuit. Ciccone took only one brief turn in the closing kilometres otherwise refusing to work. In the sprint, Ciccone took the best line through the final corner and opened a gap of several metres with around 300 metres to go, but Evenepoel came around him in the final metres to edge the line. Belgium had controlled the race throughout, with Ramses Debruyne forcing a split of around 22 riders on the third ascent of Možjanca. «I think the images were quite clear; I felt great relief and I'm very proud to have taken the win today,» Evenepoel said of the photo finish. Of his response to the crash, he said: «That's how I got to the front with Ciccone. We cooperated really well.»
Sources
UEC European Championships: Remco Evenepoel snatches photo finish victory in the elite men's race after two-man sprintCrash, attack and photo-finish victory: Evenepoel wins the European ChampionshipsRemco Evenepoel Wins European Championship After Beating Ciccone in Photo FinishHow Remco Evenepoel won the 2026 European Championships: Belgian control, a crash and one final sprintRemco Evenepoel wins 2026 European Championships after late attack and crashEuropean Championships 2026: Evenepoel claims title despite crash and tenacious Cicconecyclinguptodate.comRemco Evenepoel wins European road race title
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