Elia Viviani crowned European champion on the track just hours after five-hour road race

Several riders have decided to forego the road race in these European championships in order to chase their ambitions on the track, as was the case of Elia Viviani. The Italian sprinter was a last-minute call after Giacomo Nizzolo could not be present in the race, and he rode into seventh place as Italy's highest finisher.

“There was five hours between the two races. Over the past few days, we have analyzed with Diego Bragato whether I could do both matches, with a reasonable recovery," Viviani said after taking a title later on. Taking place in Munich, in the space of hours Viviani recovered from the race - won by Fabio Jakobsen in a bunch sprint - and went onto the Velodrome where he was part of the elimination race as World champion.

"The elimination race is my favorite part and also a great opportunity to put on the rainbow jersey, and we decided to try it," he said. As luck would have it, Viviani ended up taking the win in the race, making for an incredible achievement taking into consideration his less than ideal preparation for the event.

He has taken the European title in the discipline, however he will not yet wear those colours as the world title he won last year in Roubaix will have him in the rainbow stripes all the way into October at the very least.