Description
August 26, 2020
European Championships 2020 – Plouay – Plouay : 177,4 km
The 2020 European Road Cycling Championships is the 26th running of the European Road Cycling Championships,
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August 26, 2020
European Championships 2020 – Plouay – Plouay : 177,4 km
The 2020 European Road Cycling Championships is the 26th running of the European Road Cycling Championships, that is taking place from 24 to 28 August 2020 in Plouay, France. The event consists of a total of 6 road races and 7 time trials.
Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy) claimed the European Continental Championships Road Race in a nail-biting sprint ahead of Arnaud Demare (France) and Pascal Ackermann (Germany).
Nizzolo, who won the Italian national championships last weekend, benefitted from an excellent lead-out from his teammates, to secure their nation’s third straight title in the race.
The race was an aggressive affair with countless attacks all the way through the lumpy course in Plouay, France but the Italians were tactically perfect, using the likes of Matteo Trentin – a former winner in the race – to mark countless attacks before providing Nizzolo with an excellent lead-out in the final.
Davide Ballerini helped make the difference, helping to drop Nizzolo off with just over 150m to go while Demare and Ackermann were forced to ride without teammates in the sprint.
The win continues Nizzolo’s excellent season and ensures that the 31-year-old will wear the European jersey at the Tour de France later this week.
“It’s been an incredible day. I had an amazing lead-out from the team but honestly all day they worked perfectly. It was really close and I thought I didn’t do a good jump but in the end I was lucky,” Nizzolo said.
“I lost this race by this much a few years ago but today I won and I’m so happy. We had a plan that if we were all together on the final lap that we should go for sprint. That’s what we did. I’m so proud of the team. We did an unbelievable job. Now I’m going to go to the Tour de France with this jersey.”
Mathieu Van der Poel (Netherlands), who had been active throughout the race, started his sprint from too far back and was forced to settle for fourth.
How it unfolded
Pawel Bernas (Poland), Andreas Miltiadis (Cyprus), Dusan Rajovic (Serbia) and Emil Dima (Romania) established an early four-man break but their lead never extended beyond a few minutes with the Italian, Dutch and French controlling the peloton.
With 54km to go only Bernas remained as Van der Poel set about trying to break up the field for the first time. Sep Vanmarcke then put in a huge turn that caught Bernas and reduced the main field to less than sixty riders before Bernas went on the attack once more with another three riders.
They were soon joined and then dropped by Jasper Stuyven, with the French team attempting to bring the race back together.
Van der Poel made a series of stinging attacks inside the final 30km with Greg Van Avermaet also looking to break up the field. At that point there were too many strong teams and even when Sven Erik Bystrøm and Matteo Trentin clipped off the front the pair only enjoyed a short lead before being caught.
Van der Poel went again with a group including Bystrøm and Trentin with 18km to go but once more then peloton persisted and only Markus Hoelgaard (Norway) was able to establish any daylight in the closing 10km. With just the final climb up the Cote du Pont-Neuf to come, Italy set a blistering pace that ensured that no one could move clear, but once Hoelgaard was caught there was a last-minute surge from Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) and Rui Costa (Portugal) but Trentin snaffled them up inside the last two kilometres before his Italian teammates finished the job with another convincing win in a race they have come to dominate.
Results :
1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy) 4:12:23
2 Arnaud Démare (France)
3 Pascal Ackermann (Germany)
4 Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
5 Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
6 Davide Ballerini (Italy)
7 Maciej Paterski (Poland)
8 Iván García Cortina (Spain)
9 Adam Ťoupalík (Czech Republic)
10 Benoît Cosnefroy (France)
11 Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
12 Bystrøm, Sven Erik (Norway)
13 Alexandr Riabushenko (Belarus)
14 Rui Oliveira (Portugal)
15 Juraj Sagan (Slovakia)
16 Sergei Chernetski (Russia)
17 Dominik Neuman (Czech Republic)
18 Alex Aranburu (Spain)
19 Patryk Stosz (Poland)
20 Oliver Naesen (Belgium)
21 Josip Rumac (Croatia)
22 Roland Thalmann (Switzerland)
23 Tom Wirtgen (Luxembourg)
24 Gonzalo Serrano (Spain)
25 Matthew Holmes (Great Britain)
26 Oscar Riesebeek (Netherlands)
27 Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)
28 Pieter Weening (Netherlands)
29 Rui Costa (Portugal) 0:00:03
30 Davide Cimolai (Italy)
31 Daniel Turek (Czech Republic) 0:00:08
32 Mykhaylo Kononenko (Ukraine) 0:00:10
33 Lauk, Karl Patrick (Estonia)
34 Nick van der Lijke (Netherlands)
35 Patrik Tybor (Slovakia)
36 Anatoliy Budyak (Ukraine)
37 Alfred Wright (Great Britain)
38 Lucas Eriksson (Sweden)
39 Artem Nych (Russia)
40 Diego Ulissi (Italy)
41 Ruben Guerreiro (Portugal)
42 Olivier Le Gac (France)
43 Sergio Samitier (Spain)
44 Szymon Rekita (Poland)
45 Matteo Trentin (Italy)
46 Jon Aberasturi (Spain)
47 Sebastian Schönberger (Austria)
48 Igor Boev (Russia)
49 Giovanni Visconti (Italy)
50 Joel Suter (Switzerland)
51 Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands)
52 Peeter Pruus (Estonia) 0:00:44
53 Markus Hoelgaard (Norway) 0:01:02
54 Thomas Boudat (France) 0:01:09
55 Thomas Pidcock (Great Britain) 0:01:16
56 Emīls Liepiņš (Latvia)
57 Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium) 0:01:50
58 Claudio Imhof (Switzerland) 0:03:27
59 Johan Jacobs (Switzerland)
60 Ivo Oliveira (Portugal)
61 Daniel Auer (Austria) 0:05:24
62 Polychronis Tzortzakis (Greece) 0:05:30
63 Viesturs Lukševics (Latvia)
64 Cyril Gautier (France)
65 Andrej Petrovski (Macedonia)
66 Anthony Roux (France)
67 Michael Kukrle (Czech Republic)
68 Marek Čanecký (Slovakia)
69 Jannik Steimle (Germany)
70 Dmitry Strakhov (Russia)
71 Stephan Rabitsch (Austria)
72 Juri Hollmann (Germany)
73 Resell, Erik Nordsaeter (Norway)
74 Emil Dima (Romania)
75 Oleksandr Golovash (Ukraine)
76 Martin Laas (Estonia)
77 David van der Poel (Netherlands)
78 Scott Thwaites (Great Britain)
79 Edoardo Affini (Italy) 0:06:15
80 Rafael Silva (Portugal) 0:08:25
81 Gašper Katrašnik (Slovenia)
82 Fabian Lienhard (Switzerland)
83 Kim Magnusson (Sweden)
84 Lilian Calmejane (France)
85 Norman Vahtra (Estonia)
86 Jan Petelin (Luxembourg)
87 Rafael Reis (Portugal)
88 Nico Denz (Germany)
89 Koen de Kort (Netherlands)
90 Victor Campenaerts (Belgium)
91 Petr Rikunov (Russia) 0:09:36
92 Venantas Lašinis (Lithuania)
93 Jan Bárta (Czech Republic) 0:09:37
94 Cully, Ján Andrej (Slovakia)
95 Tom Bohli (Switzerland)
96 Andriy Kulyk (Ukraine)
97 Martin Haring (Slovakia
98 Ethan Hayter (Great Britain)
99 Julius van den Burg (Netherlands)
100 Otto Vergaerde (Belgium) 0:14:31
 claimed the European Continental Championships Road Race in a nail-biting sprint ahead of Arnaud Demare (France) and Pascal Ackermann (Germany).
Nizzolo, who won the Italian national championships last weekend, benefitted from an excellent lead-out from his teammates, to secure their nation’s third straight title in the race.
The race was an aggressive affair with countless attacks all the way through the lumpy course in Plouay, France but the Italians were tactically perfect, using the likes of Matteo Trentin – a former winner in the race – to mark countless attacks before providing Nizzolo with an excellent lead-out in the final.
Davide Ballerini helped make the difference, helping to drop Nizzolo off with just over 150m to go while Demare and Ackermann were forced to ride without teammates in the sprint.
The win continues Nizzolo’s excellent season and ensures that the 31-year-old will wear the European jersey at the Tour de France later this week.
“It’s been an incredible day. I had an amazing lead-out from the team but honestly all day they worked perfectly. It was really close and I thought I didn’t do a good jump but in the end I was lucky,” Nizzolo said.
“I lost this race by this much a few years ago but today I won and I’m so happy. We had a plan that if we were all together on the final lap that we should go for sprint. That’s what we did. I’m so proud of the team. We did an unbelievable job. Now I’m going to go to the Tour de France with this jersey.”
Mathieu Van der Poel (Netherlands), who had been active throughout the race, started his sprint from too far back and was forced to settle for fourth.
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
Pawel Bernas (Poland), Andreas Miltiadis (Cyprus), Dusan Rajovic (Serbia) and Emil Dima (Romania) established an early four-man break but their lead never extended beyond a few minutes with the Italian, Dutch and French controlling the peloton.
With 54km to go only Bernas remained as Van der Poel set about trying to break up the field for the first time. Sep Vanmarcke then put in a huge turn that caught Bernas and reduced the main field to less than sixty riders before Bernas went on the attack once more with another three riders.
They were soon joined and then dropped by Jasper Stuyven, with the French team attempting to bring the race back together.
Van der Poel made a series of stinging attacks inside the final 30km with Greg Van Avermaet also looking to break up the field. At that point there were too many strong teams and even when Sven Erik Bystrøm and Matteo Trentin clipped off the front the pair only enjoyed a short lead before being caught.
Van der Poel went again with a group including Bystrøm and Trentin with 18km to go but once more then peloton persisted and only Markus Hoelgaard (Norway) was able to establish any daylight in the closing 10km. With just the final climb up the Cote du Pont-Neuf to come, Italy set a blistering pace that ensured that no one could move clear, but once Hoelgaard was caught there was a last-minute surge from Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) and Rui Costa (Portugal) but Trentin snaffled them up inside the last two kilometres before his Italian teammates finished the job with another convincing win in a race they have come to dominate.
<strong>Results : </strong>
1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy) 4:12:23
2 Arnaud Démare (France)
3 Pascal Ackermann (Germany)
4 Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
5 Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
6 Davide Ballerini (Italy)
7 Maciej Paterski (Poland)
8 Iván García Cortina (Spain)
9 Adam Ťoupalík (Czech Republic)
10 Benoît Cosnefroy (France)
11 Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
12 Bystrøm, Sven Erik (Norway)
13 Alexandr Riabushenko (Belarus)
14 Rui Oliveira (Portugal)
15 Juraj Sagan (Slovakia)
16 Sergei Chernetski (Russia)
17 Dominik Neuman (Czech Republic)
18 Alex Aranburu (Spain)
19 Patryk Stosz (Poland)
20 Oliver Naesen (Belgium)
21 Josip Rumac (Croatia)
22 Roland Thalmann (Switzerland)
23 Tom Wirtgen (Luxembourg)
24 Gonzalo Serrano (Spain)
25 Matthew Holmes (Great Britain)
26 Oscar Riesebeek (Netherlands)
27 Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)
28 Pieter Weening (Netherlands)
29 Rui Costa (Portugal) 0:00:03
30 Davide Cimolai (Italy)
31 Daniel Turek (Czech Republic) 0:00:08
32 Mykhaylo Kononenko (Ukraine) 0:00:10
33 Lauk, Karl Patrick (Estonia)
34 Nick van der Lijke (Netherlands)
35 Patrik Tybor (Slovakia)
36 Anatoliy Budyak (Ukraine)
37 Alfred Wright (Great Britain)
38 Lucas Eriksson (Sweden)
39 Artem Nych (Russia)
40 Diego Ulissi (Italy)
41 Ruben Guerreiro (Portugal)
42 Olivier Le Gac (France)
43 Sergio Samitier (Spain)
44 Szymon Rekita (Poland)
45 Matteo Trentin (Italy)
46 Jon Aberasturi (Spain)
47 Sebastian Schönberger (Austria)
48 Igor Boev (Russia)
49 Giovanni Visconti (Italy)
50 Joel Suter (Switzerland)
51 Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands)
52 Peeter Pruus (Estonia) 0:00:44
53 Markus Hoelgaard (Norway) 0:01:02
54 Thomas Boudat (France) 0:01:09
55 Thomas Pidcock (Great Britain) 0:01:16
56 Emīls Liepiņš (Latvia)
57 Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium) 0:01:50
58 Claudio Imhof (Switzerland) 0:03:27
59 Johan Jacobs (Switzerland)
60 Ivo Oliveira (Portugal)
61 Daniel Auer (Austria) 0:05:24
62 Polychronis Tzortzakis (Greece) 0:05:30
63 Viesturs Lukševics (Latvia)
64 Cyril Gautier (France)
65 Andrej Petrovski (Macedonia)
66 Anthony Roux (France)
67 Michael Kukrle (Czech Republic)
68 Marek Čanecký (Slovakia)
69 Jannik Steimle (Germany)
70 Dmitry Strakhov (Russia)
71 Stephan Rabitsch (Austria)
72 Juri Hollmann (Germany)
73 Resell, Erik Nordsaeter (Norway)
74 Emil Dima (Romania)
75 Oleksandr Golovash (Ukraine)
76 Martin Laas (Estonia)
77 David van der Poel (Netherlands)
78 Scott Thwaites (Great Britain)
79 Edoardo Affini (Italy) 0:06:15
80 Rafael Silva (Portugal) 0:08:25
81 Gašper Katrašnik (Slovenia)
82 Fabian Lienhard (Switzerland)
83 Kim Magnusson (Sweden)
84 Lilian Calmejane (France)
85 Norman Vahtra (Estonia)
86 Jan Petelin (Luxembourg)
87 Rafael Reis (Portugal)
88 Nico Denz (Germany)
89 Koen de Kort (Netherlands)
90 Victor Campenaerts (Belgium)
91 Petr Rikunov (Russia) 0:09:36
92 Venantas Lašinis (Lithuania)
93 Jan Bárta (Czech Republic) 0:09:37
94 Cully, Ján Andrej (Slovakia)
95 Tom Bohli (Switzerland)
96 Andriy Kulyk (Ukraine)
97 Martin Haring (Slovakia
98 Ethan Hayter (Great Britain)
99 Julius van den Burg (Netherlands)
100 Otto Vergaerde (Belgium) 0:14:31)
