In a sleep-inducing European Championship, the whole peloton was suddenly wide awake after a fall at 70 kilometers from the finish. The Belgian team lost there Jasper Philipsen and was therefore immediately lost its weapon for the possible sprint.
After the crash, the Belgians realized that a harder course was even more of a necessity and Sep Vanmarcke gave it more than once. Jasper Stuyven also poked his nose at the window.
The Netherlands was the natural ally of the Belgian blue shirts and at Oranje Mathieu van der Poel took matters into his own hands. He spread his wings up to 5 times, but every attempt was silenced.
In a tactical race, Italy (Giacomo Nizzolo) and France (Arnaud Démare) kept the course almost constantly locked. Even in a disappointing final lap, everyone waited in vain for an attack.
The Italians rolled out the blue carpet for leader Nizzolo, who opened the sprint with confidence. Démare was still sniffing at his Italian challenger, but could no longer remount Nizzolo.
At the moment of truth, Van der Poel was too far and also got caught in the last hectometre: the podium was gone. Stuyven sprinted to 5th place.
For Nizzolo it is the 3rd triumph in 3 days. Last Sunday he became Italian champion, but he will not wear that jersey. For Italy it is already the 3rd European triumph in a row after Matteo Trentin and Elia Viviani.
