'We would have won team classification': Voeckler unusually mellow after Grégoire and France disappoint at European Championships

Monday, 05 October 2026 at 11:48

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Thomas Voeckler responded graciously to the performances of his French riders at the 2026 European Cycling Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The national team coach saw six riders finish in the top 18, but none of them were in contention for medals.

Different tactic to World Championship approach

France clearly employed a different tactic at the European Championship than at the Worlds, where the team, led by Paul Seixas, set the pace and took control. On Sunday in Slovenia, they left that to the Belgians and Italians. This approach allowed France to keep plenty of riders in contention going into the final laps.

Pavel Sivakov tried to break away once, but he was reeled in by Remco Evenepoel’s domestiques. After that, the only other attack we saw came from Mathys Rondel in the final lap. However, the Tudor climber was outpaced by Christian Scaroni (Italy) for third place.

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Léo Bisiaux ultimately finished as the highest-placed Frenchman in ninth place, and was also the only rider in the top ten. He was riding in a chasing group, where Rondel—after his efforts—was overtaken and dropped. He finished eleventh.

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Léo Bisiaux

Romain Grégoire Disappoints

The biggest disappointment was definitely Romain Grégoire’s 12th-place finish. The puncheur had recently finished second in the Lotto Grand Prix de Wallonie. It was thought that the course in Slovenia suited him perfectly.

However, he was dropped before the biggest names had even really started pushing hard.

Kévin Vauquelin finished in the same group as Grégoire, as did Alex Baudin. Sivakov crossed the finish line not long after, in 18th place.

Respectable results, but hadn't national team coach Voeckler expected a little more from his riders at the European Championships?

Continue reading below the photo

Romain Grégoire underperformed at the European Championships.

Voeckler thought Evenepoel and Ciccone were too strong

In L'Equipe, the usually sharp Frenchman remained kind toward his team.

“The plan was to always have one rider on Evenepoel’s wheel, but I understand that after a climb of over 2 kilometers at a 10 percent gradient, it’s hard to think clearly for a moment. There also isn’t enough room in the slipstream for everyone.”

And so, France watched as Evenepoel and Ciccone pulled away after the penultimate climb of the Mozjanca.

'We would have won a team classification', Voeckler admits

In the chase, the French never really capitalised on their numerical advantage by putting riders at the front. Toms Skujins even had some criticism of that.

“If there had been a team classification, we would have won. But that’s pointless,” Voeckler said simply.

"We wanted to maintain a numerical advantage with two laps to go, but we should have had someone with Remco when he attacked."

"That goes for a lot of countries. Although I don't think we could have kept up with Evenepoel and Ciccone on the final climb—they were in a league of their own."

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Clarice WebsterEditor

Clarice has been following cycling her whole life, wroting about Thibaut Pinot (among others) for her university magazine while earning her masters in Journalism. She is passionate about furthering equality in sports coverage, and has taken huge inspiration from pillars of women’s cycling like Beryl Burton, Marianne Vos, and Laura Kenny.

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'We would have won team classification': Voeckler unusually mellow after Grégoire and France disappoint at European Championships

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Different tactic to World Championship approach

Read also

Romain Grégoire Disappoints

Voeckler thought Evenepoel and Ciccone were too strong

'We would have won a team classification', Voeckler admits

Read also

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