The second day of the UEC Road European Championships currently underway in Drôme-Ardèche was entirely devoted to the Mixed Team Relay events, reserved for the Junior and Elite categories.
The now well-established format sees each nation participating with a team of three women and three men, competing in two relays on the same course. The start and finish were in Étoile-sur-Rhône, for a total of 40 kilometres, with a fast course that made for exciting and closely fought races right to the end.
The Elite event was a great race with France triumphing. The sextet composed of Bruno Armirail, Rémi Cavagna, Thibault Guernalec, Juliette Labous, Cédrine Kerbaol and Marion Borras covered the 40 kilometres in 47'42"70 at an average speed of 50.30 km/h, building their success thanks to great consistency between the two relays. Italy took second place, 6.38 seconds behind, with Filippo Ganna, Marco Frigo, Lorenzo Milesi, Federica Venturelli, Vittoria Guazzini and Elena Cecchini, while Switzerland completed the podium, 40.11 seconds behind, with a team composed of Jan Christen, Stefan Küng, Mauro Schmid, Noemi Rüegg, Marlen Reusser and Jasmin Liechti.
The day began with the Junior event, which was won by Norway. The Scandinavian team – Kristian Haugetun, Sindre Orholm-Lønnseth, Håkon Eiksund Øksnes, Oda Aune Gissinger, Marte Dolven and Ida Østbye Støvern – won in 52'05"12 at an average speed of 46.07 km/h, clinching a highly prestigious title. France took second place, 34 seconds behind, with Lancelot Gayant, Luc Royer, Gabin Gicquel, Zoé Bihan, Charlotte Bouhier and Ninon Humbert, while Poland secured the bronze medal, 37 seconds behind, with the sextet of Mikolaj Legiec, Marcin Wlodarski, Ksawery Gancarz, Kinga Słomka, Nadia Hartman and Anna Gaborska.
The UEC Road European Championships will continue tomorrow, Friday 3 October, with the first Road races. In Guilherand-Granges, the start and finish location, the programme includes three events: in the morning, the Women's U23 race (85.7 km, starting at 9:00 a.m.), followed in the middle of the day by the Women's Junior race (62.9 km, starting at 12:40 p.m.). In the afternoon, at 3:35 p.m., it will be the turn of the Junior Men, who will tackle a 103.4 km course.
