Christian Scaroni made it two Italians on the podium, while home favourite Primož Roglič finished tenth. The victory was particularly significant for Evenepoel, as the European road race title was one of the few major honours still missing from his remarkable career.
What makes the European Road Championships different?
Unlike the Tour de France and other stage races, the European champion is decided in a single race. Riders compete for their national teams rather than their professional trade teams, and the winner earns the right to wear the European champion’s jersey in road races for the following year.
The elite men’s road race has only been part of the European Championships since 2016, with the event previously limited to younger age categories. Peter Sagan won the inaugural elite men’s title that year. This year’s championships in Slovenia feature a total of 14 events, including road races, individual time trials and mixed relays across several age groups.
The men’s race covered 196.3 kilometres and featured 2,571 metres of elevation gain. After the opening section from Ljubljana towards Šenčur, the riders completed five laps of a 22.1-kilometre circuit. The key obstacle was the climb to Možjanca: 2.1 kilometres at an average gradient of just over ten per cent, with ramps reaching 15.8 per cent.
Belgium control the race for Evenepoel
A six-man breakaway formed early in the race, featuring Slovenia’s Luka Mezgec, who brought his professional career to an end on home roads. Belgium never allowed the gap to become dangerous, however, and spent much of the day controlling the chase.
The peloton became smaller with every ascent of Možjanca. Riders such as Mads Pedersen lost contact, while Italy, Slovenia and Belgium continued to raise the pace as the decisive phase approached.
Around 36 kilometres from the finish, the race began to take shape. Evenepoel attacked together with Ciccone but entered a corner too quickly and slid out. The Belgian was able to get back on his bike immediately and, with the help of his team-mates, rejoined Ciccone.
Just a few kilometres later, Evenepoel attacked again. This time only Ciccone could follow, and the pair finally opened a decisive gap over the chasing group.
Ciccone forces Evenepoel to do the work
Evenepoel and Ciccone entered the final lap together. Despite several attacks behind them, the chasers were unable to close the gap. Belgium also remained tactically well represented in the group behind and repeatedly disrupted attempts to organise the chase.
Inside the final ten kilometres, Ciccone was reluctant to contribute much to the pace. Evenepoel was forced to do most of the work and made his frustration clear at times. The Italian was understandably gambling on his sprint.
For a moment, the strategy looked as though it might work. Evenepoel led into the final corner, but Ciccone took the inside line and launched his sprint from the better position. The Italian initially appeared to have the victory secured before beginning to fade in the final metres.
Evenepoel surged back alongside him and both riders threw their bikes towards the line almost simultaneously. Only the photo finish could separate them: the Belgian was ahead by a matter of centimetres, winning in 4:16:37. That equated to an average speed of almost 46 km/h.
Evenepoel completes an extraordinary collection of titles
Scaroni claimed bronze 59 seconds later, while Toms Skujiņš finished fourth at 1:13. Iván Romeo, Ramses Debruyne and Germany’s Emil Herzog followed, with Roglič tenth at his home championships and Austria’s Michael Gogl finishing 20th.
After two runner-up finishes, Evenepoel finally took gold. He had narrowly missed out on the European road title in both 2021 and 2025. Last year he was beaten by Tadej Pogačar, who was unable to race this time because of the after-effects of his crash at the Vuelta and instead watched the event from the sidelines.
After a disappointing 12th place in the road race at the World Championships, Evenepoel had openly said that he wanted to make amends at the Europeans. The 26-year-old was understandably delighted after crossing the line and stressed how proud he was of both the victory and the work of his Belgian team-mates.
Evenepoel has now won national, European, world and Olympic titles at elite level in both the road race and the individual time trial. He will not attempt to defend his European time trial crown, however. Instead of racing on Wednesday, he is already turning his attention to Il Lombardia on 10 October.
