Six medals for Belgium at the European Road Cycling Championships!

27/09/2023

With six medals, Belgium was the most decorated nation at these European championships, level with France. This is the highest number of medals ever won by Belgium at a European Championships since it opened up to elite cyclists.

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The 2023 European Road Cycling Championships were held in the province of Drenthe, in the north-east of the Netherlands.

Belgium is becoming increasingly renowned for its time trial performances and continues to impress in this discipline on the European stage. The previous year, Belgian cyclists won three medals in this discipline at the European Championships in Munich, with one gold, one silver and one bronze. This year, Belgium defended its reputation extremely well by once again winning three time-trial medals:

  • Alec Segaert (Gold) confirmed his status as the favourite in the U23 category by winning the gold medal he had been waiting for in a championships this season.
  • Wout van Aert (Silver) put in a solid performance but lost out to a stronger rider. Joshua Tarling, aged just 19, crushed the competition.
  • Sente Sentjens (Bronze), 18, deserves a special mention for his bronze medal in the Junior category.

In the road races, Belgian cyclists excelled on the demanding courses in the province of Drenthe:

  • Fleur Moors (Gold) was Belgium's star performer at the Championships. The young Belgian cyclist, who had already taken third place at the World Championships in Glasgow, won the European title in the junior road race.
  • Lotte Kopecky (Bronze) rounded off her outstanding season with a bronze medal. During the race, the world champion was unable to keep up with Mischa Bredewold as she accelerated with ten kilometres to go, and was then overtaken by Lorena Wiebes in the last few metres, falling just four seconds short of another remarkable performance this season.
  • Wout van Aert (Silver) was unable to keep the pace of Christophe Laporte as he accelerated and lacked the energy in the final metres to overtake his French rival.

A record six medals for Belgium!