Reusser also outstanding in European Championships time trial, after her World Championship time trial victory

A week and a half after the World Championships, it was time for the women to compete for the European title. Reusser was also in France after her victory in Rwanda, unlike silver medalist Demi Vollering and bronze medalist Anna van der Breggen. They will only ride the road race at these European Championships on Saturday.

With Lieke Nooijen and Mischa Bredewold, however, the Netherlands still had medal contenders. From Belgium, all eyes were on Julie De Wilde and Lotte Claes, who did not have an ideal run-up to the race. De Wilde was recently hit by a car during training, and Claes was the victim of theft at Brussels-South station during her trip to France, when her backpack was stolen, containing her racing shoes, bike computers, and heart rate monitor, among other things.

At 2:19 PM local time, Portugal's Daniela Campos was the first to start. Still, the first serious times came from Britain's Anna Henderson, France's Juliette Labous, and certainly our ‘own’ Nooijen, who has recently shown some promising performances on her Visma | Lease a Bike time trial machine.

At the second intermediate point, she lost some ground to the Norwegian ladies Mie Bjorndal Ottestad and Katerine Aalerud. The Scandinavian ladies rode strongly, but were unable to compete with the top favorite Reusser, who had also started in the meantime. The Swiss rider had already secured her title with significantly faster times and by overtaking her predecessor, Christina Schweinberger.

Where Nooijen opted for a fast start, Bredewold rode better split times than her competitors during her time trial. At the finish, the SD Worx-Protime rider was just unable to keep Aalerud off the podium, while Nooijen dropped to fifth place. The win went to Reusser, of course.