The Spaniard García Pierna was thirteenth, and Sandra Alonso and Mireia Benito, fifteenth and twentieth in the women’s event.
MADRID, 11 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Italian cyclist Edoardo Affini and Belgian Lotte Kopecky were crowned European time trial champions on Wednesday, after winning the 31.3-kilometre course between Heusden and Hasselt in the championship being held in Limburg (Belgium).
The Italian won the men’s race thanks to a spectacular final stretch in which he reduced the 14-second gap he had at the first intermediate point with the big favourite, the Swiss Stefan Küng, who finished nine seconds behind. The Italian Mattia Cattaneo rounded out the podium almost 20 seconds behind his compatriot.
Affini claimed his first European title and will face the World Championships as one of the main candidates for victory in Zurich (Switzerland) in two weeks. The only Spanish representative, Raúl García Pierna, finished in thirteenth position, 1:31 behind the champion.
Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky took the win in the women’s event, beating Dutchwoman Ellen van Dijk, two-time world champion in this discipline, by 15 seconds, who finished second, and Austria’s Christina Schweinberger, who rounded out the podium. Dutchwoman Riejanne Markus missed out on the top three by just two seconds.
The reigning world road race champion, a six-time Belgian champion, showed great form in taking the title after finishing sixth in the Olympic race in Paris. With this victory, she will also have a good chance of winning her first medal at a World Championships in this discipline, which will be held in Zurich on 22 September.
Spaniards Sandra Alonso and Mireia Benito finished in fifteenth and twentieth position, respectively, more than two minutes behind the winner.