The France became European champion in the mixed relay time trial at the Euro Road Cycling Championship on Thursday in the Dutch province of Drenthe. This is the first title for Les Bleus in this recent event, which appeared in 2019 at the World and European Championships, which brings together three men, then relayed by three women in each team.
Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Cédrine Kerbaol, Juliette Labous, Bruno Armirail, Rémi Cavagna and Benjamin Thomas edged out Italy by 4 seconds and Germany by 22 seconds to take gold in the rain, after already winning a silver medal at the Worlds in Glasgow in August. "We rode really well, it was hard but the guys had prepared the ground for us, we were not allowed to miss," said Audrey Cordon-Ragot at the microphone of the TV Team.
Rémi Cavagna returned the compliment: "It's thanks to them that we are here. At the World Championships we finished second by seven seconds, we really wanted revenge. It's great for the France team. »
Switzerland, the two-time reigning world champion, finished only sixth. She was without Stefan Kung who crashed violently the day before during the individual time trial. The Groupama-FDJ rider suffered an uncomplicated concussion as well as a fractured cheekbone and hand, his team said. Rémi Cavagna finished first French in this race, with an 8th place. On the girls' side, Audrey Cordon-Ragot had to settle for fourth place, just four seconds behind Austria's Christiana Schweinberger.
