“People will say the best riders weren’t here. Well, they should have come then” - Bruno Armirail fires back after European silver
Cycling
Bruno Armirail left the European Championships with silver and a message for anyone tempted to downplay it. The Frenchman came within just over seven seconds of Primoz Roglic in the elite men's time trial in Slovenia, finishing second after setting the benchmark that only the home favourite was able to beat.
With Remco Evenepoel, Filippo Ganna and Tadej Pogacar all absent, Armirail was already expecting the strength of the field to become part of the conversation.
"People will say the best riders weren't here," Armirail told DirectVelo afterwards. "Well, they should have come then. That's how it is."
The 32-year-old had little interest in apologising for the medal. "Maybe the three best time triallists in the world weren't here, but everyone else was. It's a good result."
A response after Montreal frustration
Only days earlier, Armirail had left the World Championship time trial deeply frustrated and without a clear explanation for a result that did not match either his sensations or the data from the ride.
"I was criticised a lot for my result at the World Championships," he said. "But I still maintain that I didn't have a bad day there. Even looking back now, I still don't understand it. I have no explanation. The data was very good, and I think you could see that on the Sunday in the road race. I showed clearly that I was there and that I wasn't dead from doing the Tour-Vuelta double."
His European Championships offered rather firmer evidence. Armirail had already helped France win the mixed relay on Tuesday before returning 24 hours later for the individual time trial. He stopped the clock in 28:23.190, almost 22 seconds faster than Maxime Decomble, and remained in the hot seat until Roglic reached the finish.
"At least I proved I'm not quite as bad at time trialling as some people think," Armirail said.
He dismissed the suggestion that riding the mixed relay might have cost him the time needed for gold. "I don't think riding the mixed relay had any impact on today's result," he said. "If I'd had a bad day, then maybe you could ask the question, but not after a ride like this."
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Seven seconds from gold
Armirail had no complaints about the rider who beat him, even if the small margin inevitably left some frustration. "There's no shame in losing to Primoz, of course, but I think it was probably possible to beat him," he said. "It was a good day, but not a perfect one."
Roglic had taken almost 13 seconds out of Armirail at the first checkpoint before the Frenchman began clawing time back through the second half of the course. By the finish, only 7.13 seconds separated them.
Armirail also acknowledged what the victory meant for Roglic on home roads. "I imagine it's special to win like that in your own country, in front of your supporters."
For Armirail, silver still left something unfinished. "Yes, it's a little bit of revenge, even if it would have been even better to wear the jersey. I'll come back and try to win it one day."
Whatever questions remained after Montreal, his European Championships produced two far clearer results: mixed relay gold with France on Tuesday and individual silver less than 24 hours later.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Being the best rider left in the race is pretty much the only way to win in any edition, surely? Seems reductive to say "they only won because the entire peloton wasn't as absolutely stacked as it could've been" - you can only beat who is in front of you.wrsty08-10-2026
- I’m sorry but generally the coverage on your site is first class but this incident highlights something I just don’t get with cycling journalism. This accident should never have been allowed to happen, it comes uncomfortably close to the Finlay Tarling tragedy and two other incidents took place within days of this. I checked all of the cycling websites and you all put out basically the same story. Pidcock gave journalists the perfect opening to blow this sky high, what has the UCI got to say? What is Adam Hansen doing? What do the organisers say? Nothing, you all trot out the same easy quotes taken from Pidcocks interview after the race but do nothing to follow it up. I see it time and time again, journalists taking the easy way out but being outraged when it happens again as it surely will. Riders can’t do this but journalists should be independent and should be able to raise these uncomfortable questions but cyclinguptodate and every other on line publication prefer to take the easy way out. That’s the real tragedy here.Paul53108-10-2026
- Happy to help :-)Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Well, ok but, it’s also a structural, team, budgeting, direction and all sorts of other issueMistermaumau08-10-2026
- I wouldn’t call it an analogy but maybe his criticism is a little unfair. On the other hand, the fact Cicco made a public affair out of it despite having received all the explanations and proof makes me feel he now deserves being criticised for not accepting there is nothing to discuss.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Much as I like him (one of my favourites), I do want to attract a little attention to the coincidence of his recent performances in the current context. Not the first time a rider improves noticeably when there’s a job interview to prepare. In the same lighthearted humour of his, i hope the UCI will let him wear it at home as the rules quite strictly state you can only wear it during participation in the discipline you won in, and we all know how capable they are of interpreting rule interpretation ;-) Also, if it’s going to be retirement (please not), I wouldn’t call that an agreement as somebody will probably feel they didn’t get what they wanted.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Agreed. There used to be a team willing to pay though. I take all these figures (that vary enormously according to who is publishing) with handfuls of salt. We don’t know how salaries are treated (especially between a UK employer and Andorran resident), we don’t know how numbers are derived and from where, if deductions have been taken into consideration, etc. but if he returns to Colombia, he’s going to need quite a bit in protection money.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- And another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust. Ah gonna get you too…Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Top marks RidesHills. A great post that sums up exactly Egan Bernals situation.Cyclingsbestfan08-10-2026
- Thanks for pointing out that typo. Now ammended.Prorodsandstuff08-10-2026
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