Italy has won the men’s European road race title again, this time with Sonny Colbrelli in Trento, in front of the Italian public.
Colbrelli, fully supported by his national team, raced to victory after a two-man sprint beating the Remco Evenepoel, with Benoit Cosnefroy (France) finishing third.
After a particularly fast race, with pressure right from the start from Spain and France, the decisive action happened approximately forty kilometres from the finish, instigated by Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) a leading group came together including Marc Hirschi (Switzerland), Remco Evenepoel and Ben Hermans (Belgium), Benoit Cosnefroy (France), Matteo Trentin and Sonny Colbrelli (Italy), Pavel Sivakov (Russia) and Markus Hoelgaard (Norway).
Later in the race Remco Evenepoel then stepped up the pace in the final stages of the race pulling further away from the leading group until only Sonny Colbrelli was on his wheel. The two-man sprint was inevitable and Colbrelli crossed the line well ahead of the Belgian cheered on by the huge crowds.
The Italian national team won its fourth continental title in a row following the wins by Matteo Trentin (2018), Elia Viviani (2019) and Giacomo Nizzolo (2020).
“It’s amazing. A fantastic victory”, said Colbrelli. “I didn’t have a good feeling at the beginning of the race. I had also got a lot of pressure as this race was a huge opportunity for me. But the Italian team worked perfectly, and Trentin, in the final, supported me excellently. Then I managed to follow Evenepoel on the last climb, although I was suffering. I’m so happy also because I took this win in Italy and as an Italian is something special.”
