Results women's elite European Championships road race 2026 - Demi Vollering doubles up with her first win in the rainbow jersey

The 2026 European Championships have continued this Saturday afternoon with the women's elite road race. A week after conquering the World Championships, Demi Vollering has ridden to her first win in her new jersey in Sencur, Slovenia.

The 130-kilometer long race began in Ljubljana and throughout its grand majority was pan-flat. Only after 90 kilometers of racing were fireworks expected, as the riders made their way through the Slovenian countryside.

Carina Schrempf and Margot Vanpachtenbeke formed the day's breakaway, a two-rider move that didn't threaten to the peloton on the day. They were in fact caught with 39 kilometers to go, before the climb to Mozjanca even began. The ascent would only be tackled twice, with 2.1 kilometers at 8.7%.

The race was controlled the first way up the ascent, and afterwards Franziska Koch and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig attacked. After getting caught, Noemi Ruëgg, Femke de Vries and Liane Lippert rolled off the gront and got a gap. However, De Vries would then stop collaborating due to her responsibilities with the Dutch team, leading to the move's collapse at the start of the final ascent.

Just as happened at the World Championships, Puck Pieterse led out Demi Vollering, and with one single attack with 15 kilometers to go the rainbow jersey soared off the front. The gap she would grow over Pieterse and Katarzyna Niewiadoma quickly ballooned into the 30-second mark, and in the plateau section this would only go on to grow.

Elisa Longo Borghini, Antonia Niedermaier and Marlen Reusser linked up to the chasing group, which began growing as the pace slowed down due to Vollering's dominance.

The Dutchwoman rode all the way to the finish in Sencur with a comfortable lead, conquering the title like she had 12 months prior. Niewiadoma crashed in the final kilometer, and Puck Pieterse sprinted to second place behind. Marlen Reusser completed the podium.