Results European Championships 2026 women's under-23 road race - Shock victory for Mara Winter ahead of Dutch duo and World Champion Chladonová
Cycling
The 2026 Ljubljana European Championships have begun officially and the women's under-23 road race was the first event held this Friday. The victory has been taken by Switzerland's Mara Winter, beating a duo of Dutch rider and world champion Chladonová to take the biggest win of her career.
The very first event of the 2026 Europeans began in Sencur and featured an 88-kilometer long race, consisting of four full laps of the circuit that will be featured over the coming days. Four ascensions of the climb to Mozjanca, just over 2 kilometers long at 10%.
In the final ascent Niemke Vinke attacked, followed by the rainbow jersey Viktória Chladonová. Megan Arens of the Netherlands and Mara Winter connected with the duo shortly after.
The Dutch majority in the quartet hinted at a likely tactical finale, but the hard chase of a separate group of five riders close by meant that the pace couldn't stop up front at risk of getting caught.
The four riders went into the final kilometers together, and Winter was the first to launch her sprint, early on in a relatively technical finalle. The effort appeared to have come too early, but the Swiss rider showed incredible sprint and held out the front of the group all the way to the finish line.
Winter, 20, had finished fourth at the World Championships last weekend and has now taken a breakthrough victory in Slovenia. Niemke Vinke finished second and world champion Viktória Chladonová rode to third on the day.
Read also
Results European Championships women's under-23 road race

Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 3visitors 1
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Zonneveld should just have used Velo's analysis as a cheat sheet. Admitting he only watched half of it but is an expert on it, seriously?Hills3312-11-2026
- Awww you're gonna insult PogiFanBoy now with your comments!frieders312-11-2026
- OUR SPECIAL 1 !!! PogiSloFansUpToDate: The Tadej Pogačar Foundation has awarded scholarships for the 2026/2027 school and academic year in Slovenia. It received more than 60 applications from young people who have faced cancer, and all of them were approved. This year, Pogi's Foundation has therefore signed scholarship agreements with 63 recipients, totalling €166,000. This is almost double last year’s amount, when it awarded 35 scholarships worth €94,000. Pogačar: "We believe in you and your dreams. Now I’m cheering for you."PogiSloFans12-11-2026
- Hey @Jumping Hare Johnny... I have no sympathy for Ayuso or the situations he gets himself into. He was a traitor in the UAE team, he hated Pogi and never wanted to work for him. He always had excuses why he couldn't perform. No riders in the team liked his character and did not approve the kind of person he was on a deep, moral, or personal level. I just don't care about him. Capish?PogiSloFans12-11-2026
- Pogi=Baby Hulk=The G.O.A.T.PogiSloFans12-11-2026
- You do realize his TdF team wins were PED enhanced teams led by LA Doper himself!frieders312-11-2026
- Bruyneel, for all his faults, guided a team to seven straight TdF victories. He's got his bona fides. Criticizing him on his tactical nous or team strategies seems a bit weak. He's entitled to his opinion.Occam12-11-2026
- You don't have to calculate it. Just watch "Anatomy of a G.O.A.T." and you will have all the numbers but... ... if you are Ford and you will calculate numbers of Lamborghini it will not help you. Just saying..averagecyclist12-11-2026
- anybody can calculate the numbers of Tadej , its not secret. We already have the parcour distance elevation data, we have the strava data of a number of riders for reference, we have Pogi's time vs distance. Form there Pogi numbers on every climb can be calculated. Having numbers means nothingabstractengineer12-11-2026
- Again completely stupid. THere is a reason Pogi is Goat, nobody can match his performances, it is physiologically impossible for a rider to equal thru training , nutrition(Pogi has better or equal) and equipment.(Pogi has better or equal) . its mainly genetic.abstractengineer12-11-2026
Loading
1 Comments








