ŠENČUR — Remco Evenepoel completed a historic sweep of elite championship titles on Sunday in Slovenia, beating Giulio Ciccone in a nail-biting photo finish to win the UEC European Championships road race in Šenčur and secure the eighth and final jersey missing from his palmarès.
At just 26, Evenepoel has now won all eight titles available across the road race and individual time trial at the Belgian National Championships, European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games, a run spanning seven years with 24 medals won at elite level. "This means a lot to me; this was the last jersey I still wanted and needed to win in cycling," Evenepoel said after the victory, adding in his speech to the Belgian team and staff: "This jersey is added to my list of achievements, but you played a big part in that. A huge thank you for that. The same goes for the staff. Everything was well organised again. Thanks to everyone who contributed even a little bit."
The Belgian's mastery of championships dates to 2018, just 18 months after he became a cyclist, when he did the double in the junior road race and time trial in Zlín, Czechia, before an unprecedented double-double at the World Championships in Innsbruck, winning both junior rainbow jerseys by more than 1:20. His first elite title came at the Europeans in Alkmaar in 2019 at 19, beating Kasper Asgreen, Edoardo Affini, Stefan Küng, Alex Dowsett and Filippo Ganna, before his progress was stunted by his major crash at Il Lombardia in 2020. He returned to win the Belgian time trial title in Gavere in 2022 ahead of then-teammate Yves Lampaert, the road race World title in Wollongong later that year with a solo attack in the last 25km by more than two minutes, the Belgian road race title in Izegem in 2023 ahead of Alec Segaert, and the first of four successive elite time trial World titles in Stirling in 2023. In Paris in 2024 he became the first male rider to do the double at the Olympic Games, dominating the time trial before an iconic solo road race win with help from Wout van Aert marking Mathieu van der Poel up the Montmartre climb, surviving a late bike change to celebrate in front of the Eiffel Tower.
With seven titles already banked, only the European road race remained, after defeats to Sonny Colbrelli in a two-up sprint in Trento in 2021 and to Tadej Pogačar in France a season ago. Lining up in Ljubljana with Pogačar still out injured as heavy favourite, Evenepoel's race was almost derailed on the Možjanca climb when he crashed just as he began his move with Ciccone following and the Italian team upping the pace for Ciccone and Christian Scaroni. His bike was not badly broken and teammates Maxim van Gils and Ramses Debruyne brought him back to the front, before he put the hammer down again on the next ascent. Ciccone stayed in his wheel for the run home, but Evenepoel prevailed by the barest of margins with an expert bike throw to right the wrongs of Montreal a week earlier.
"I might not have really shown it, but I was still very disappointed in myself and my performance. I also felt like I had disappointed the whole country with my performance," Evenepoel said. "I still hope that everyone is proud now that we are back. And sorry again for last week's World Championship. Now I'm going to celebrate this one big time." He travelled back to Belgium on Monday and will return to racing on Wednesday ahead of Il Lombardia on Saturday, where he has finished second behind Pogačar in the past two seasons and will start as favourite to close out his 2026 season. The triumph follows Vollering's Dutch one-two at the European Championships in Slovenia earlier in the programme.