Cycling: The home European Championships did not bring the hoped-for medals for the German XC elite - even if only just. Sabine Spitze was fourth in her race, Manuel Fumic eighth in the men's race. Meanwhile, the jerseys with the stars went to Tanja Zakelj (Slovenia) and Julien Absalon (France), who had previously been considered favourites.
The Frenchman Absalon, who is currently in the lead in the overall World Cup, showed himself to be in control of the situation from the start. When the temperature was over 30 degrees, he stayed cool and also fended off the attacks of Swiss Fabian Giger. In the end, after a driving time of 1:44:03 hours, he had a 15-second lead over the latter. The Czech Jan Skarnitzl, who had been with Fumic for a long time, secured third place in the men's category, but was able to break away from him and catch up to the front. Fumic himself lost a little over two minutes on Absalon.
Already halfway through the race, Absalon had taught the competition to fear with Giger. Until then, only Skarnitzl had managed to keep up. Remarkable from the point of view of the cyclocrossers: Sven Nys (Belgium) finished a strong fifth place.
In the women's race, defending champion Tanja Zakelj dominated the race. Together with her compatriot Blaza Klemencic she had blown up the group of favorites halfway. After 1:41:38 hours, their lead was finally 19 seconds. Poland's Maja Wloszczowska secured third place, just ahead of Spitz.