{"id":226008,"date":"2025-06-30T07:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T07:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226008\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T07:05:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T07:05:12","slug":"wellens-longo-borghini-amongst-big-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/226008\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellens, Longo Borghini Amongst Big Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    &#8220;], &#8220;filter&#8221;: { &#8220;nextExceptions&#8221;: &#8220;img, blockquote, div&#8221;, &#8220;nextContainsExceptions&#8221;: &#8220;img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button&#8221;} }&#8221;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>It can be one of the most confusing times of the year: recognizing the new national champions in the opening days of the Tour de France.<\/p>\n<p>When the race rolls out of Lille next Saturday several of those in the bunch will be clad in different kit to that many will be accustomed to. Many of the 2024 champions will be suddenly back in standard team clothing\u2014although that clothing itself may change for the Tour\u2014while the new title holders will be sporting their national stripes.<\/p>\n<p>One of those to look out for is <a href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/tim-wellens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\">Tim Wellens<\/a>, the UAE Team Emirates rider outfoxing Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceunick) with a 41 kilometer solo breakaway.<\/p>\n<p><a data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/danny-van-poppel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Danny van Poppel<\/a> (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) had an easier time of it in the Netherlands, taking the gold medal there ahead of Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) in a bunch sprint.<\/p>\n<p>Giro d\u2019Italia star Ivan Romeo (Movistar Team) triumphed via a solo victory in Spain, while Swiss rider Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) doubled up on the gold he took in Thursday\u2019s time trial. Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS Astana Team) did likewise in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n<p>Also heading to the Tour this week are Uno-X Mobility rider Andreas Leknessund and Georg Zimmermann (Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty). These proved best in Norway and Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Skuji\u0146\u0161, Gee put in dominant rides<br \/>\n<img data-lazy-load=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-951774\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2220252004.jpg\" alt=\"PLATEAU DU MONT-CENIS, FRANCE - JUNE 15: Toms Skujins of Latvia and Team Lidl - Trek competes during the 77th Criterium du Dauphine 2025, Stage 8 a 133.3km stage from Val-d'Arc to Plateau du Mont-Cenis 2095m \/ #UCIWT \/ on June 15, 2025 in Plateau du Mont-Cenis, France. (Photo by Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1601\"\/>Toms Skujins (Lidl-Trek) won again in Latvia\u00a0 (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>A number of other riders won their own national championships but aren\u2019t currently confirmed for the Tour. Dorian Godon (Decathlon Ag2r la Mondiale) was fastest in a three man sprint to take the French title.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/soren-kragh-andersen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\">S\u00f8ren Kragh Andersen<\/a> beat his Lidl-Trek teammate Mads Pedersen by 25 seconds in Denmark, and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) doubled up in the road and TT championships in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<p>In Lativa Toms Skuji\u0146\u0161 (Lidl-Trek) captured his fifth national title by more than two minutes. Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) and Rory Townsend (Q36.5 Procycling) secured gold medals in Britain and Ireland respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most unexpected winner was Filippo Conca, Townsend\u2019s former teammate.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s currently racing with the non-UCI Swatt Club squad, but beat Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Thomas Pesenti (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team) and Giovanni Aleotti (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in a four man gallop to the line in Italy.<\/p>\n<p>In Canada, Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) crushed his rivals in the men\u2019s road race, finishing almost four minutes clear of his teammate Hugo Houle.<\/p>\n<p>Longo Borghini, Wiebes amongst the winners of the women\u2019s titles<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" data-lazy-load=\"\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-951772\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2221891080.jpg\" alt=\"The podium of the Italian Road Cycling Championship 2025 in Darfo Boario Terme, on June 28, 2025. , Italy, features Monica Trinca Colonel, Elisa Longo Borghini, and Eleonora Ciabocco from left to right (Photo by Tommaso Berardi\/NurPhoto).\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1601\"\/>The podium of the Italian Road Cycling Championship features Monica Trinca Colonel, Elisa Longo Borghini, and Eleonora Ciabocco (Photo: Tommaso Berardi\/NurPhoto).<\/p>\n<p>Some key names in the women\u2019s peloton were testing their own form in advance of major races.<\/p>\n<p>Defending champion <a data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/elisa-longo-borghini\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elisa Longo Borghini<\/a> (UAE Team ADQ) showed she is in fine condition prior to the Giro d\u2019Italia Women with a near one-minute victory in Italy.<\/p>\n<p><a data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/lorena-wiebes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lorena Wiebes<\/a> (Team SD Worx-Protime) confirmed her own good shape when she prevailed in a massive sprint in the Netherlands, while her teammate Demi Vollering crashed but did not suffer serious injury.<\/p>\n<p>Two other big winners are not currently scheduled to start the Giro but are part of the lineup for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) won from a long range break in Belgium and <a href=\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/tag\/blanka-vas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\">Blanka Vas<\/a> (Team SD Worx-Protime) took her sixth successive title in Hungary.<\/p>\n<p>Other winners are unconfirmed for either grand tour, for now at least. At least some of those may be hoping that a new national champion\u2019s jersey could result in a green light from their teams to ride the Giro or the Tour.<\/p>\n<p>Those include EF Education-Oatly\u2019s Alison Jackson in Canada, Marie Schreiber (Team SD Worx-Protime) in Luxembourg, Sara Mart\u00edn (Movistar Team) in Spain, plus Danish rider Alberte Greve and her Norwegian Uno-X Mobility teammate Mie Bj\u00f8rndal Ottestad.<\/p>\n<p>Other winners at the weekend included Krist\u00fdna Burlov\u00e1 (Ceratizit Pro Cycling Team, Czech Republic), Daniela Campos (Eneicat-CMTeam, Portugal), Mika S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m (Sweden), Mia Griffin (Roland, Ireland) and Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck), who won the British title from a four women breakaway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;], &#8220;filter&#8221;: { &#8220;nextExceptions&#8221;: &#8220;img, blockquote, div&#8221;, &#8220;nextContainsExceptions&#8221;: &#8220;img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button&#8221;} }&#8221;&gt; It can be one of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[89118,89119,4230,89120,42455,89121,89122,70438,89123,89124,79,89125,89126,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-226008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-alison-jackson","9":"tag-blanka-vas","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-danny-van-poppel","12":"tag-derek-gee","13":"tag-elisa-longo-borghini","14":"tag-ivan-romeo","15":"tag-lorena-wiebes","16":"tag-mauro-schmid","17":"tag-soren-kragh-andersen","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-tim-wellens","20":"tag-toms-skujins","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114771048984762300","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}