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SONNY COLBRELLI IS THE NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION!
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| Bahrain Victorious congratulates Sonny Colbrelli on the prestigious victory in the men’s road race at the European Championships in Trento, Italy, on Sunday 12th September. |
| The rider of the Italian National team beat in a two-man sprint Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), with Benoit Cosnefroy (France) rounding up the podium in third place. |
Today, Colbrelli was one of the favourites, coming from a successful season with Bahrain Victorious and recently having won the GC and one stage at the Benelux Tour. The Italian Champion showed his great shape on the European Champs course: a 179.2 km with start and finish in Trento. After the first 73 km in line, the route runs through the “Valle dei Laghi” and the “Monte Bondone”, followed by the final 13.2 km circuit, to be repeated eight times, including the Povo climb (3.6 km at 4.7%).
A course that suited our rider, as surviving the challenging circuit, meant to have the opportunity to play the cards of a fast man in the final flat 4 km.
That was what Colbrelli did, entering in the strong group of riders that attacked with 40km to go, then together with the only Cosnefroy (France) keeping the pace of Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) when he accelerated with 25km to go. After that, he was extraordinary in surviving to the final acceleration of the Belgian rider on the last climb and the only one to resist. It was a duel in the finale: Colbrelli was clever to open the sprint at the right time and take this excellent Road European Champion’s title. It’s the first time a rider of the team has won this prestigious jersey. |
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Sonny Colbrelli: “It’s amazing. A fantastic victory. I didn’t have a good feeling at the beginning of the race. I had also got a lot of pressure as this race was a huge opportunity for me. But the Italian team worked perfectly, and Trentin, in the final, supported me excellently. Then I managed to follow Evenepoel on the last climb, although I was suffering. I’m so happy also because I took this win in Italy and as an Italian is something special”.
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| (All pictures can be used for editorial and non-commercial usages only and are copyright @Bettiniphoto @TeamBahrainVictorious) |
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