Héctor Álvarez (Spain) produced a powerful, gutsy ride to claim the under-23 European Championships title in Slovenia, attacking away solo in the final 13km to go one better than his result from the World Championships last week.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the 19-year-old, though, as he had originally gone solo with 34.7km to go on Friday, only to be caught on the final time up the tough Možjanca climb, which was tackled three times en route to the finish in Šenčur on Friday.
With Max Bock (Germany) chasing him down on the climb, taking Jan Michal Jackowiak (Poland) and Niels Driesen (Poland) for the ride in his wheel, Álvarez got back in the lead after following an opportunistic move from the Pole, and then countering him with some daring moves into the downhill run off of the climb.
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By the time they reached the finish, Álvarez, whose heaps of talent have already seen him confirmed for a step-up to Lidl-Trek’s WorldTour squad in 2027, was able to celebrate into the final kilometre as he arrived alone, 20 seconds ahead of Jackowiak.
Driesen left Bock behind in the final 4km to take the bronze medal, adding to his fifth-place finish from Worlds, and earning the Belgians something out of the day after they had done much of the chasing.
“We need to say finally. I was following this for a real long time; it’s two years without the win. I think everyone trusted me and I think today I paid it off,” said Álvarez, who finished third in the same race a year ago, and was the runner-up in the European junior race two years ago.
“We knew it from the start was going to be crazy and fast, all the flat part, but I think all my team for the first part: óscar, Emilio, Eñaut, Javi, everyone was all there for me; they trusted me from the start, also the team manager. We knew today was the day, and I paid it off.
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“I think I don’t need to give any advice to the bit guys, but I think you need to be brave. Today I put my way to race that is aggressive, and I finally arrived, so just be brave.”
After an aggressive start to the under-23 road race at the UEC European Championships in Slovenia, with several attacks and some crashes at the front of the race, a large group of 60 riders found themselves set to play out three laps of the Šenčur finishing circuit and Možjanca climb (2.1km at 10.2%).
The major selection came on the penultimate time up the climb, which Roberto Capello (Italy) led solo onto, before being bridged across to and dropped by Max Bock (Germany), who rides for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe’s development team.
Both of them were mopped up by the bubbling chasing pack of favourites past the top of the climb, before everyone felt the brunt of a big counterattack from Spain’s Héctor Álvarez with 34.7km to go, carrying his form over from the World Championships in Montreal, where he was second in the same event behind the USA’s Ashlin Barry.
Álvarez showed off his strength against the clock as he pushed on solo ahead of the chasing group of 16, who crossed what would be the finish line with a 41-second deficit to make up in the final 22km lap.
Belgium worked in the group behind with four riders remaining, and the gap finally started to go in the right direction for the chasers onto the climb, with Bock working to close the gap down to under 20 seconds with 15km to go. Jan Michal Jackowiak (Poland) and Niels Driesen (Belgium) were the only riders able to follow the German.
Álvarez was caught with 14km to go by the three chasers, but he’d made it over the hardest part of the course on the climb. Despite his grimaces and obvious struggles, the Spaniard kicked straight away again on the plateau, only to be caught by Bock in quick time.
Jackowiak was the next to attack with 13.5km to go into the downhill roads through the trees, with Bock unable to snap onto his wheel as he did to Álvarez. In fact, it was the Spanish rider who still had enough juice to make the junction.
The two bigger men threw some more haymakers at each other on the picturesque downhill run back towards Šenčur, with Álvarez getting separation once again into the last 13km. This ended up being the winning move, with Jackowiak finishing 20 seconds down and Driesen arriving 32 seconds in arrears after a tough race.
Results
|
Rank |
Name (Country) |
Time (gap) |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Hector Alvarez Martinez (Spain) |
3:02:22 |
|
2 |
Jan Jackowiak (Poland) |
0:00:20 |
|
3 |
Niels Driesen (Belgium) |
0:00:32 |
|
4 |
Max Bock (Germany) |
0:00:37 |
|
5 |
Mattia Negrente (Italy) |
0:00:49 |
|
6 |
Daan Dijkman (Netherlands) |
Row 5 – Cell 2 |
|
7 |
Matisse van Kerckhove (Belgium) |
Row 6 – Cell 2 |
|
8 |
Erazem Valjavec (Slovenia) |
Row 7 – Cell 2 |
|
9 |
Daniel Moreira (Portugal) |
Row 8 – Cell 2 |
|
10 |
Richard Riška (Slovakia) |
Row 9 – Cell 2 |
|
11 |
Matteo Vanhuffel (Belgium) |
Row 10 – Cell 2 |
|
12 |
Jurgen Zomermaand (Netherlands) |
0:01:00 |
|
13 |
Michele Bicelli (Italy) |
0:01:12 |
|
14 |
Emil Nielsen (Denmark) |
0:02:01 |
|
15 |
Lenaic Langella (France) |
Row 14 – Cell 2 |
|
16 |
Soan Ruesche (France) |
0:02:04 |
|
17 |
Eñaut Urcaregui Sanz (Spain) |
0:02:08 |
|
18 |
Heorhii Chyzhykov (Ukraine) |
Row 17 – Cell 2 |
|
19 |
Dawid Lewandowski (Poland) |
Row 18 – Cell 2 |
|
20 |
Mil Morang (Luxembourg) |
Row 19 – Cell 2 |
|
21 |
Patrick Frydkjær (Denmark) |
Row 20 – Cell 2 |
|
22 |
Samuel Novák (Slovakia) |
Row 21 – Cell 2 |
|
23 |
Bálint Feldhoffer (Hungary) |
Row 22 – Cell 2 |
|
24 |
Théophile Vassal (France) |
Row 23 – Cell 2 |
|
25 |
Kasper Borremans (Finland) |
Row 24 – Cell 2 |
|
26 |
Kasper Haugland (Norway) |
Row 25 – Cell 2 |
|
27 |
Jaka Marolt (Slovenia) |
0:02:11 |
|
28 |
Viktor Soenens (Belgium) |
Row 27 – Cell 2 |
|
29 |
Roberto Capello (Italy) |
0:02:14 |
|
30 |
Noah Andersen (Denmark) |
0:03:41 |
|
31 |
Louis Leidert (Germany) |
0:05:30 |
|
32 |
Andrei Carbunarea (Romania) |
0:05:32 |
|
33 |
Eike Behrens (Germany) |
Row 32 – Cell 2 |
|
34 |
Gijs Schoonvelde (Netherlands) |
Row 33 – Cell 2 |
|
35 |
Jonas Holzknecht (Austria) |
Row 34 – Cell 2 |
|
36 |
Nicola Zumsteg (Switzerland) |
0:05:34 |
|
37 |
Filip Surdyk (Poland) |
Row 36 – Cell 2 |
|
38 |
Stefano Masciarelli (Italy) |
0:05:37 |
|
39 |
Javier Cubillas Salvador (Spain) |
0:05:41 |
|
40 |
Georg Rydningen Martinsen (Norway) |
Row 39 – Cell 2 |
|
41 |
Jim Breitler (Switzerland) |
0:05:45 |
|
42 |
Milan Kadlec (Czechia) |
0:05:47 |
|
43 |
Kevin Andre Sandli Messel (Norway) |
Row 42 – Cell 2 |
|
44 |
Matar Peretz Herdevall (Israel) |
Row 43 – Cell 2 |
|
45 |
Maksim Mishankov (AIN) |
Row 44 – Cell 2 |
|
46 |
Christodoulos Achas (Cyprus) |
0:05:48 |
|
47 |
Nicolas Milesi (Italy) |
Row 46 – Cell 2 |
|
48 |
Jonas Kind Høydahl (Norway) |
Row 47 – Cell 2 |
|
49 |
Vicent Zaragoza Pascual (Spain) |
Row 48 – Cell 2 |
|
50 |
Guus van den Eijnden (Netherlands) |
Row 49 – Cell 2 |
|
51 |
Ryan Gal (Netherlands) |
Row 50 – Cell 2 |
|
52 |
Jasper Schoofs (Belgium) |
Row 51 – Cell 2 |
|
53 |
Maxime Vezie (France) |
0:05:52 |
|
54 |
Fausto Valentin Penna (Germany) |
0:05:58 |
|
55 |
Daniel Lima (Portugal) |
0:06:06 |
|
56 |
Jon Pritržnik (Slovenia) |
0:06:47 |
|
57 |
Flavio Astolfi (Luxembourg) |
Row 56 – Cell 2 |
|
58 |
András Gusztáv Pakot (Hungary) |
Row 57 – Cell 2 |
|
59 |
Ferhat Emisci (Türkiye) |
0:08:52 |
|
60 |
Yevhen Testsov (Ukraine) |
Row 59 – Cell 2 |
|
61 |
Valentin Poschacher (Austria) |
Row 60 – Cell 2 |
|
62 |
Nicolas Ginter (Switzerland) |
Row 61 – Cell 2 |
|
63 |
Simone Zanini (Italy) |
0:08:54 |
|
64 |
Barnabás Vas (Hungary) |
Row 63 – Cell 2 |
|
65 |
Gerard Mora Viudez (Andorra) |
Row 64 – Cell 2 |
|
66 |
Gabriel Baptista (Portugal) |
0:10:17 |
|
67 |
Nicolas Gojković (Croatia) |
Row 66 – Cell 2 |
|
68 |
Livio Stefani (Switzerland) |
Row 67 – Cell 2 |
|
69 |
Gergő Grósz (Hungary) |
Row 68 – Cell 2 |
|
70 |
Horea-Stefan Precup (Romania) |
Row 69 – Cell 2 |
|
71 |
Rastko Nikačević (Serbia) |
Row 70 – Cell 2 |
|
72 |
Mikita Babovich (Belarus) |
Row 71 – Cell 2 |
|
73 |
Yair Tobul (Israel) |
Row 72 – Cell 2 |
|
74 |
Leon Lukić (Croatia) |
Row 73 – Cell 2 |
|
75 |
Roei Edinger (Israel) |
Row 74 – Cell 2 |
|
76 |
Nicholas van der Merwe (Bulgaria) |
Row 75 – Cell 2 |
|
77 |
Aldo Taillieu (Belgium) |
Row 76 – Cell 2 |
|
78 |
Ian Peran (Croatia) |
Row 77 – Cell 2 |
|
79 |
Martin Bárta (Czechia) |
Row 78 – Cell 2 |
|
80 |
Adam Bittman (Czechia) |
Row 79 – Cell 2 |
|
81 |
Radostin Zlatev (Bulgaria) |
Row 80 – Cell 2 |
|
82 |
Mauro Brenner (Germany) |
Row 81 – Cell 2 |
|
83 |
Catalin-Luca Campean (Romania) |
Row 82 – Cell 2 |
|
84 |
Rafael Barbas (Portugal) |
0:10:25 |
|
85 |
David Haverdings (Netherlands) |
0:10:27 |
|
86 |
Mads Landbo (Denmark) |
0:10:28 |
|
87 |
Tom Lambert Wetzel (France) |
0:10:33 |
|
88 |
Bogdan Zabelinskiy (Cyprus) |
0:10:35 |
|
89 |
Olivers Jekabs Skrapcis (Latvia) |
0:13:22 |
|
90 |
Ovidiu-Gabriel Dorcu (Romania) |
0:13:24 |
|
91 |
Bastian Petrič (Slovenia) |
Row 90 – Cell 2 |
|
92 |
Jakub Javor (Slovakia) |
Row 91 – Cell 2 |
|
93 |
Miko Pirinen (Finland) |
0:14:55 |
|
94 |
Kevin Biehl (Denmark) |
0:15:53 |
|
95 |
Anže Ravbar (Slovenia) |
0:15:56 |
|
96 |
Omer Ramon (Israel) |
0:16:14 |
|
97 |
Teodor de Luca (Sweden) |
Row 96 – Cell 2 |
|
98 |
Enzo Fuentes Caporali (Andorra) |
Row 97 – Cell 2 |
|
99 |
Valentino Kamberaj (Albania) |
0:17:26 |
|
100 |
Georgios Kousis (Greece) |
Row 99 – Cell 2 |
|
101 |
Igor Davidov (Serbia) |
Row 100 – Cell 2 |
|
102 |
Pavlo Antonenko (Ukraine) |
Row 101 – Cell 2 |
|
103 |
Nejc Peterlin (Slovenia) |
0:21:14 |