Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) is the 2020 European road champion, after denying Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) in a furious bunch sprint.
This is the third consecutive title for an Italian rider. Matteo Trentin (CCC Team) won in 2019, and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) won in 2018.
Nizzolo and Démare won their respective Italian and French road national titles last weekend, as did Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who just missed a podium position today.
Trentin rode in support of Nizzolo throughout the day on the rolling 177.5-kilometer circuit in Plouay, France, keeping constant pressure on the peloton.
Van der Poel was aggressive throughout much of the race, animating it from 50km to go through 25km to go, however, he was closely marked and followed.
With the aid of Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck–Quick-Step), Trentin dropped off Nizzolo in a good position for the dash to the line.
Sprinters Jasper Philipsen and Alexander Kristoff (both UAE Team Emirates), both among favorites to be in the top 10, were caught up in a crash with some five laps to go. The resulting gap behind the crash left Ackermann without assistance in the final laps.
“It’s been an incredible day. I had an amazing lead-out from the team but honestly all day they worked perfectly. It was really close and I thought I didn’t do a good jump but in the end, I was lucky,” the winning Italian said.
Nizzolo will wear the tricolore jersey when he starts the Tour de France Saturday.
2020 European road cycling championships results
1. Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling), 4:12:23
2. Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), at s.t.
3. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), at s.t.
4. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), at s.t.
5. Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), at s.t.
6. Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), at s.t.
7. Maciej Paterski (Wibatech Merx 7R), at s.t.
8. Iván García Cortina (Bahrain-McLaren), at s.t.
9. Adam Ťoupalík (Elkov – Kasper), at s.t.
10. Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale), at s.t.