Lotte Kopecky storms through European Championships with victory in the time-trial - van Dijk and Schweinberger on the podium
Cycling
Reigning road race World Champion Lotte Kopecky has become the new European Champion in the time-trial discipline, succeeding after teammate Marlen Reusser got the title last year. The Belgian was the fastest against the clock in the modest field and has put another shirt on her extensive palmarès.
Kopecky was the main favourite to win on the day but in the 31 kilometers of racing from Heusden-Zolder to Hasselt there was a lot of ground for other riders to make the difference. In the latter part of her effort Kopecky put in a strong effort that saw her lead increase significantly after in the first intermediate splits the gaps were not dramatic.
Kopecky took the title, beating the Netherlands' Ellen van Dijk who put in a strong performance to second place 44 seconds behind; whilst Christina Schweinberger started off strong but just managed to hold off to finish with the bronze medal.
| 1 | KOPECKY Lotte | Belgium | 70 | 00:39:00 |
| 2 | VAN DIJK Ellen | Netherlands | 55 | + 44 |
| 3 | SCHWEINBERGER Christina | Austria | 40 | + 01:03 |
| 4 | MARKUS Riejanne | Netherlands | 30 | + 01:05 |
| 5 | GUAZZINI Vittoria | Italy | 25 | + 01:09 |
| 6 | AALERUD Katrine | Norway | 20 | + 01:25 |
| 7 | KRÖGER Mieke | Germany | 15 | + 01:49 |
| 8 | BUJAK Eugenia | Slovenia | 10 | + 01:52 |
| 9 | KOERNER Rebecca | Denmark | 5 | + 02:09 |
| 10 | KIESENHOFER Anna | Austria | 3 | + 02:11 |
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