Second and final day of testing at the Cyclocross European Championships on the tracks of the town of Namur. Italy slightly down compared to yesterday's performances, in which the Pontoni National team obtained a silver with Valentina Corvi and two top five in 3 different categories: two twelfth places and one 23rd the best placings of today's Azzurri in the Elite men's categories, Under 23 women and junior men.
Source: press release / FCI
However, a good European for an Italy in clear growth and above all very young, able to improve last year's results (a bronze medal among the Juniors with Luca Paletti) and to demonstrate all its potential.
MEN JUNIOR
It is France to conquer the continental title among the juniors: on the Namur track Leo Bisiaux crosses the finish line first, preceding the Danish Daniel Weis Nielsen and the Dutch Guus Van den Eijnden. A sprint start for the new European champion, who immediately makes a selection and separates the group into two clear parts. Italy tries to stay up front first with Samuele Scappini and then with Elian Paccagnella, forced to give up respectively in the first and second rounds. The 17-year-old's first real attack comes in the third lap, when the Belgian Viktor Vandenberghe loses ground due to a technical problem: the only one who manages to stay at his wheel is the Danish Daniel Weis Nielsen, launching a head-to-head that lasts until the last guro, when Bisiaux definitively detaches his opponent and conquers the first step of the podium alone.
Too bad for the junior blues, a category on which the coach Daniele Pontoni was aiming a lot. He too had said it on the eve: “They are the strongest, but they have not yet managed to show their real value”. The best among the Italians is Tommaso Cafueri, who is in 23rd position. Stefano Viezzi thirtieth, followed in 33rd place by Tommaso Bosio. Samuele Scappini 43th, while Elian Paccagnella pays the initial effort by closing in XNUMXrd place.
The words of the coach at the end of the match contain all the regret of a missed opportunity: “The guys went far below expectations, not giving me what I asked for. Maybe I too have some wrong evaluation. It's a shame because we set up a good job at the beginning of the season which I hoped would lead to another type of results ”. There are some positive sides: “Stefano Viezzi and Tommaso Bosio, the two first year boys, surprised me: they started from the back of the group but recovered well. Particularly good on the technical part, interpreted very well by both ". And now "the first cycle has ended, the second part of the season starts here and there will be other people to call into question for the future".
JUNIOR MALE CLASSIFICATION
| 1 |  BISIAUX Leo | 37:11 |
| 2 |  NIELSEN Daniel | 0:06 |
| 3 |  VAN DEN EIJNDEN Guus | 0:19 |
| 4 |  VAS Barnabas | 0:22 |
| 5 |  JAMINAntoine | " |
| 6 | NUYENS Wies | " |
| 7 | SPARFEL Aubin | " |
| 8 |  SCHWARZBACHER Matthias | 0:43 |
| 9 | TAKÁCS Zsombor | 1:02 |
| 10 | VIJFVINKEL Mika | 1:10 |
WOMEN UNDER 23
Absolute domination of the Netherlands in the Under 23 women's test: to cross the finish line alone is the already world champion Puck Pieterse, who on the Namur track beats the competition and races alone. Her superiority can be seen already from the very first rides, with which she immediately takes off and leaves no hope of comeback to the opponents.
The race is therefore reduced to a race for second place, eventually won by the French Line Burquier, who leaves behind the Dutch and outgoing European champion Shirin Van Anrooij. Best of the blue Asia Zontone, twelfth at 4'55 "from the winner:"Unfortunately I made a mistake in the start and I spent the first two laps trying to recover and then keep my position. I'm sorry I didn't finish in the top 10, I made some technical mistakes, but I'm still happy and I enjoyed it". The other blue: Carlotta Borello is fifteenth, Alice Papo twenty-third.
RANKING U23 WOMEN
| 1 | PIETERSE Puck | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | 49:02 |
| 2 | BURQUIER Line | 0:50 | |
| 3 | VAN ANROOIJ Shirin | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 1:27 |
| 4 |  SCHREIBER Marie | TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM | 1:46 |
| 5 |  BACKSTEDT Zoe | 1:53 | |
| 6 | FOUQUENET Amandines | 2:39 | |
| 7 | BENTVELD Leonie | PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL | 2:50 |
| 8 |  ZEMANOVA Kristyna | BRILON RACING TEAM MB | 3:27 |
| 9 | DURAFFOURG Lauriane | AS BIKE RACING | 4:08 |
| 10 | HONEST Olivia | AS BIKE RACING | 4:31 |
| 11 |  KRAHL Judith | HEIZOMAT RADTEAM P / B KLOSTER KITCHEN | 4:46 |
| 12 |  AREA Asia | 4:55 |
ELITE MEN
Michael Vanthourenhout prophet at home: the Belgian prevails in front of the home crowd by winning the Elite race, characterized by a heavy rain that started falling just a couple of minutes before the start, making the iconic Namur track even more treacherous. The 28-year-old was able to interpret the race in the best possible way, immediately creating a nice gap and managing the advantage until the final triumph. Lars van der Haar, reigning champion and super favorite on the eve, had to settle for the second step of the podium, while the bronze ended up around the neck of the other Belgian Laurens Sweeck. The only blue in the race Gioele Bertolini, author of a good comeback in the second part of the race: her final twelfth place.
MEN'S ELITE RANKING
| 1 | VANTHOURENHOUT Michael | PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL | 1:06:47 |
| 2 | VAN DER HAIR Lars | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 0:40 |
| 3 | SWEECK Laurens | CRELAN - FRISTADS | 2:17 |
| 4 | NIEUWENHUIS Joris | BALOISE TREK LIONS | 2:48 |
| 5 |  KUHN Kevin | TORMANS CYCLO CROSS TEAM | 2:51 |
| 6 |  ORTS LLORET Felipe | 2:54 | |
| 7 | BOROSMichael | 3:03 | |
| 8 | VANDEBOSCH Toon | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | 3:13 |
| 9 | HENDRIKX Mees | CRELAN - FRISTADS | 3:16 |
| 10 | RÜEGG Timon | CROSS TEAM LEGENDS | 3:22 |
| 11 | VANDEPUTTE Niels | ALPECIN - DECEUNINCK | 3:27 |
| 12 | BERTOLINI Joel | SELLE ITALIA - GUERCIOTTI - ELITE | 3:33 |
