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Noval wins junior TT by 0.0003s, backs up Worlds double
Benjamín Noval won the junior men's time trial at the UCI European Road Championships 2026 in Šenčur on his 18th birthday, beating Denmark's Malthe Risbjerg by 0.0003 seconds. He had led by 24 seconds at the first intermediate check before the gap shrank to 10 seconds at 16km into the 22km course. That margin confirms last month's Worlds double in Montreal was no one-off.
What this means
Noval heads into his Netcompany Ineos contract for 2027 with back-to-back junior titles — the Worlds double and this European title — rather than a single breakthrough to his name.
Noval won both the junior road race and time trial at the UCI Road World Championships 2026 in Montreal the previous month. Winning this title too, after nearly losing a 24-second cushion down to 10 before holding on by 0.0003 seconds, shows the Worlds form wasn't a single good day. Belgium's Vic De Smet took bronze 7 seconds back and Switzerland's Antoine Salamin was fourth at 9 seconds, both comfortably outside the Noval-Risbjerg fight for gold. Noval is already contracted to Netcompany Ineos for 2027, so this result reads less as a junior-field story than as a final data point before he leaves it.
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