The European Mountain Bike and Road Championships took place last week in Glasgow, Scotland, and a lot of familiar cyclocross faces were there to chase the continental jerseys.
With Marianne Vos (WaowDeals Pro Cycling Team) in the road race and a wealth of women’s talent that included Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Canyon Factory Racing) and Jolanda Neff (Kross Racing) in the mountain bike race, there was a good chance cyclocross fans would be seeing a number of their favorite riders on podiums in Scotland.
The Men’s races drew attention from ’cross fans thanks to the presence of Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) and Wout van Aert (Verandas Willems-Crelan). Van der Poel was looking to win both races and unify the European championship jerseys as he did the Dutch stripes, and Van Aert has been targeting the road race in Glasgow after his break from racing following his successful Classics season.
In this week’s Rumors and Rumblings, we look at results from the European Championships in Glasgow. The cyclocross stars did not disappoint their fans.
Neff Wins Euro XCO Title
Thus far this mountain bike season, Jolanda Neff, Annika Langvad (Specialized) and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot have consistently been in podium contention at the UCI World Cups. The European Championships gave the duo another podium to vie for as the season nears its climax at the 2018 World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland in September.
The race in Glasgow belonged to Neff, as she won the event by over two minutes. Ferrand-Prevot finished second and Githa Michiels (Versluys Pro Mountain Bike Team) of Belgium placed third. Elisabeth Brandau (EBE Racing Team) finished fifth and Eva Lechner (Clif Pro Team) eighth. Langvad did not race, instead opting to get ready for the Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup that kicked off with the short-track race on Friday in Canada.
Full results are available from uci.ch.
Vos Takes Second in Road Race
After a 2017/18 cyclocross season that was very un-Vos-like, Marianne Vos has been dialed in this road season. She finished second in the GC at the OVO Energy Women’s Tour, third at Dutch Road Nationals, second at the Prudential RideLondon Classique and won the GC at the BeNe Ladies Tour.
Vos entered last Saturday’s road race as one of the favorites after winning the title in 2017. This year, she came up just short, finishing second in a sprint finish behind Marta Bastianelli (Ale-Cipollini) of Italy.
Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) finished 12th and part-time cyclocrosser Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) finished 8th.
Full results are available from uci.ch.
The video below picks up with 1km to go.
Van der Poel, Van Aert Podium in Road Race
Mathieu van der Poel’s quest to unify the European title belts ended when he took a DNF during Tuesday’s XCO mountain bike race. Fortunately for him, his win at Dutch Road Nationals landed him a spot on the Dutch team, giving him a chance to bounce back during Sunday’s road race.
Even though cyclocross season starts in Europe in about a month, Van der Poel used the race as an opportunity to renew his rivalry with Wout van Aert. The two ’cross stars made the final selection in a race that came down to a sprint finish.
Van der Poel, Van Aert and Italy’s Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) went neck-in-neck into the sprint, with Trentin grabbing the win just ahead of Van der Poel and then Van Aert.
A replay of the last 20km is available here. The finishing stretch begins around 27:30.
Full results are available from uci.ch.
