European Championships 2024 ***SPOILERS***

My office for the next 6 days.

Insert photo of finish line here..

I'll try remember to post as many behind the scene pics as possible. . . However it keeps coming up validation failure when I try... Any ideas?

Truly gutted I don't get to call Josh or Anna or any Brits home tomorrow in the TTs or at all all week

Those blue and gold star jerseys are pretty visible in the road races

I'm enjoying the politics of the Women's Elite Road Race...

Women's race so far not doing anything to dispel this race's chipper label

Simon Yates is heading for VismaLAB next year.

In commentary with about 15 kms to go, they said Wiebes can put out around 2,000 watts in a sprint. That's insane power.

Hmmm that's Chris Hoy power

I very much doubt it.

That’s 500 more than Mark Cavendish said in a Cycle Sport interview, that he would normally put out.

Edit: I was going to guesstimate 1200 watts and guess what? Having Googled it, it’s 1200 in bunch sprints, 1400 watts max power.

My niece used to have a max power of 1500 watts!

It did seem somewhat high. I know Cav was around 1500 w but being small he was always super-aero and needed a lot less power than 90 kg, 6 ft 4 in, Marcel Kittel to hit the same top speed.

1000+ watts must be very rare for the fairer sex?

The men's U23 race was moderately entertaining. I really enjoyed the junior race.

In the junior race, a break of eight got away. The group included Jasper Schoofs (Bel) who was one of the big favourites and another Belgian, Nio Vandevorst whose idol has to be Marc Soler. In a vane effort to get them to work together, Schoofs waved his arms and berated his companions. Meanwhile, Vandevorst, who looks quite chunky for a cyclist, gurned as he bobbed off the back, looking as though he was at maximum effort and frequently missed turns. Needless to say, the break lacked cohesion and was eventually caught and Schoofs was not to properly feature again.

On the third cobbled sector Paul Seixas (Fra) launched a strong attack and went clear with Héctor Álvarez (Spa) who will ride for the Lidl Trek devo team next year. Although Seixas is probably the most sought after junior rider right now, this surprised me as Seixas is known as a climber, probably the best currently riding in the junior ranks, but I had no idea he could be so strong on the flat. Off the cobbles, Seixas and Álvarez were joined by Felix Ørn-Kristoff (Nor) who is a half-brother of Alexander Kristoff and is due to go pro with Intermarché - Wanty in 2026. Álvarez and Ørn-Kristoff were two of the biggest favourites for the race. Behind the trio, it was chaos with chase groups forming, splitting and re-forming but the trio worked well together and France did an effective spoiling job behind.

At the start of the final lap, the leaders had 21 seconds on a small chase group with a marauding peloton a couple of seconds further back. It was very much in the balance. With about 13km to go, Dawid Lewandowski (Pol) launched an attack from the peloton. He was quickly joined by Bastian Petrič (Slo) and Matijs Van Strijthem (Bel). Behind them, it was possible to make out a gurning, chunky figure in a Belgian jersey straining every sinew to catch up. Yup, it was Vandevorst from the early break. Incredibly, he did manage to get on despite looking like he was about to explode from the effort. He was accompanied by an Italian and a couple of Dutch riders. Crucially, for the first time, the French had failed to infiltrate the chase. This group looked like it might have a chance to catch the leaders if they worked together and they set off in pursuit with poor old Vandevorst looking like he would be dropped at any moment but gamely just about hanging on.

At 9km to go, the gap was down to just 14 seconds. The chase could see the leaders. But the gap started going out again. With 2km to go, Vandevorst was five metres off the back of the chase group, fannying about with his gears and the gap was over 20 seconds. By the time the leading trio got to the flamme rouge, it was obvious that one of the would take the win and they had enough time to slow down and play tactics. Seixas was left on the front and was comfortably beaten into third by Álvarez in second and Ørn-Kristoff in first.

Behind them Vandevorst rose Lazarus-like from the dead to lead out his teammate to fourth and take 5th for himself.

In the U23 race, the Dutch played a tactical blinder. A strong group of about 15 riders (including 3 French and 3 Dutch) got away. When Léandre Lozouet (Fra) and Huub Artz (Ned) got a gap, it was obviously going to be the race winning move. Niklas Behrens (Ger) realised in time and managed to bridge across to the pair. Artz was one of the favourites for the win; Lozouet and Behrens not so much. Predictably, the Dutch spoiled the chase and succeeded in chasing down a number of fruitless attacks until Wenzel (Lux) and Weiss (Swi) finally managed to get away but it was too little too late and they never really looked like closing on the leading trio. Somewhat inevitably, Lozouet was dropped in the final and Artz outsprinted Behrens for the title.