San Francisco Frontiers - Evenepoel puts worlds 'disappointment' to bed with European crown

The Belgian pipped Italian Giulio Ciccone at the finish line in Slovenia having finished with the elite clique that trailed winner Brandon McNulty home at the worlds last Sunday in Montreal.

Cicconi's compatriot Christian Scaroni was third almost a minute behind.

"It's incredible," the 2022 world champion Evenepoel said.

"I thought I had won, but you can never be sure.

"This performance was honestly really tough for me after the disappointment of the worlds.

"It's a big relief to be back on a good level today and to complete my championship jerseys so it feels amazing," the 2019 and 2025 European time trial gold medallist added.

Evenepoel was the pre-race favourite with the all-conquering Tadej Pogacar, who won the race 12 months ago, missing due to injury with the race held in his home country.

Other stand-out riders like Dane Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas, Tom Pidcock and Mathieu van der Poel were also absent.

Despite not competing, joint-record five-time Tour de France champion Pogacar was still present, with the starting gun in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, as he appeared from the window of a car on the route, to the joy of local fans.

With 36 of the 196km to go, in the postcard setting of the Alps, Belgium launched Red Bull-Bora hansgrohe's Evenepoel with Ciccone following on.

Evenepoel then slid on the tarmac on a corner but caught up with Ciccone, who had slowed down to save energy going into the final kilometres.

The pair were neck and neck until the end in Sencur, the location for five laps of 22.1km, before Evenepoel needed a photo finish to complete his European-worlds double, having finished second in the continental race in 2021 and last year.

H.Davis--SFF