Nienke Vinke finally claims the highly coveted U23 time trial title at European Championships

At the U23 World Time Trial Championships, it was Australia’s Felicity Wilson-Haffenden who took the title, but at the European Championships, the Netherlands now had a real shot at gold. Nienke Vinke had finished second in Canada and was the top favorite to win on Wednesday. Luca Vierstraete, who had placed third at that time, was not competing, so the main competition appeared to come from world road champion Viktoria Chladonova.

Belgian rider Emma Siegers was the first to set a target time after completing the full 22-kilometer time trial. She finished in exactly 34 minutes, making her significantly faster than the women who started before her. But her time was quickly beaten. First, it was Justyna Czapla (Germany) who beat it at the first checkpoint, but Megan Arens was even faster.

The Dutch rider, who finished ninth at the World Championships and became junior world champion last year, was half a minute faster than the German. Even Chladonova had to concede time there. The only one who managed to beat Arens’s first split time? Her compatriot Vinke, who was nine seconds faster after 15 minutes of cycling. But the tough climb was still to come.

It seemed that Arens had gotten off to a somewhat strong start after all. She was still clocking a faster time than Czapla, but she did lose some ground. Chladonova also closed in, trailing by just four counts. But Vinke proved unstoppable. She had surged up the climb faster than anyone else and already had a lead of nearly half a minute over her compatriot.

The medalists seemed clear, but the order hadn’t been decided yet. Arens battled Chladonova for the silver. At the finish line, the Dutch swimmer was 15 counts slower than Czapla, which made it seem as though she had collapsed. Yet she still had five counts to spare, and so she took the silver. Vinke crossed the finish line not long after and became European champion with a lead of no less than 36 counts.