The 2025 UEC Cyclo-Cross European Championships began today in Middelkerke, in northern Belgium. The day ended with the Women's Elite race, where Inge Van der Heijden took the lead from the start and never looked back. Behind her, Italy's Sara Casasola tried for a long time to keep up with the Dutch riders Lucinda Brand and Manon van Alphen, but a fall in the sand on the penultimate of six laps dashed her hopes, leaving Brand and Van Alphen to finish second and third respectively, completing an all-Dutch podium.
In the Men's Under-23 category, young Italian Mattia Agostinacchio won the European title after a spectacular comeback in the last two laps, moving up from seventh position to win solo ahead of Dutchman David Haverdings and Belgian Kay De Bruyckere. In his first season in the Under-23 category, Agostinacchio, who won the junior title in Pontevedra in 2024 before becoming world champion, put on an impressive show on the technical course in Middelkerke, treating the Belgian public to a performance of great character and high quality. The Italian made an exceptional comeback in the last two laps, moving up from a small group at the front of the race before distancing his rivals and triumphing solo.
The first day of the 2025 Cyclo-Cross European Championships was kicked off by the Women Juniors. The Czech Republic's representative, Barbora Bukovská, vice-world champion in the discipline and bronze medallist at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Switzerland, dominated the event, winning convincingly ahead of the Netherlands' Nynke Jochems and Italy's Nicole Azzetti, thus completing a podium of very high technical and international calibre.
The UEC Cyclo-Cross European Championships will conclude tomorrow with the last three events scheduled: at 11:00, the Junior Men will start, followed at 13:00 by the Under 23 Women and, at 15:00, by the most eagerly awaited event, the Elite Men.
