Europe’s leading cycling nations will clash in Munich, Germany from August 11 to 21 at the ‘European Super Championships’, where the elite of men’s sprinting go head-to-head in the men’s sprint road race. Sunday.

Fabio Jacobsen, Alexander Kristoff, Mads Pedersen, Arnaud Demarre, Sam Bennett, Pascal Ackerman and Giacomo Nisolo will all change the colors and crests of their professional teams to run for national pride. Surprisingly, Lotto Soudal’s Belgian riders missed out on being selected for the European Championship so they can focus on fighting relegation from the World Tour, but Sunday’s race promises valuable points for the riders and therefore their professional teams. Last year, Sonny Colbrelli scored a valuable 250 points to win the men’s title in Trento.

The 2022 “European Super Championships” will include nine different sports including road, track, mountain bike, BMX racing, athletics, climbing, rowing, table tennis, gymnastics, volleyball and triathlon. Munich hosted the Olympic Games 50 years ago and most of the events will take place in the same Olympiapark, making the European Championships bigger and more visible than the individual championships.

Tom Pidcock, Filippo Colombo, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Jolanda Neff and Sina Frey will aim for mountain bike titles, while Laura Kenny, Lotte Kopecky, Elia Viviani, Geoffrey Hoogland, Roy van den Berg and Harry Lavraison will compete. way Germany’s Lisa Brennauer will end her long road and track career in the event.

Road races are the most prestigious titles as the European champion’s white and blue striped jersey is worn by the peloton for the next 12 months, as is the world champion’s rainbow jersey.

Last year, Colbrelli beat Remko Evepoel to claim the jersey in Trento, while Ellen van Dijk won the European road race title and finished second behind Marlene Rooser in the time trial. Both will return to the 24km Fürstenfeldbruck course this year, while Elisa Balsamo, Demi Vollering, Lorena Wibes and Cecile Ludwig are set to take part in the road race.

Stefan Kung beat Filippo Ganna by eight seconds to win the 2021 time trial title and is back favorite in the absence of Italy in this year’s 48km time trial. His biggest rival is probably his compatriot Stefan Bissager.

The men’s road race offers a clash with famous sprinters

Sunday’s men’s road race is the first major event of the “European Super Championships”, which most European nations see as a key test ahead of the world championships in Australia. The 207.9km course in Munich may be flatter than the course in Wollongong and better suited to pure sprinters, but it’s also an opportunity for professional runners to compete in their national colors and without a race radio.

Italy takes the European road racing championships most seriously and thanks to Matteo Trentin, Viviani, Nissolo and Colbrelli, they have won four in a row in recent years. The new Italian national coach and former sprinter Daniele Benetti chose Trentino, Nisolo, Ganna, Alberto Dainese, Jonathan Milan, Luca Mossato, Jacopo Guarnieri and Filippo Baronzini. Sprint Final.

Other countries have also picked their best sprinters. The Belgian team is built around Tim Merlier and the excellent Dries van Gestel, while France has Arnaud Demarre, Hugo Hofstetter and Brian Coquard. Fabio Jacobsen leads the Netherlands, Mads Pedersen has point guard Michael Markov in Denmark, Alexander Kristoff leads Norway and Sam Bennett is Ireland’s best chance to win.

The German nation is particularly strong, with eight runners including Pascal Ackermann, Nils Polit, Phil Bauhaus and John Degenkolb.

“The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway will all battle for the final sprint”Bennett sounded the warning when he named his squad in La Gazzetta dello Sport this week.

“We want to honor Sonny Colbrelli’s success last year and build the team for the future, especially for the road race of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Without race radios, the experience of riders like Trentin and Guarnieri is essential for us, while Nizzolo, being an Italian and European champion, knows how to perform well in circuit racing. We also have Ganna, Milan and the Danes who are in good form after racing the Tour de France. Ganna can make a range attack or play a key role in the sprint, taking care of our guys in the final kilometers. We are going to let the other countries control the race because they have more opportunities in the sprint. We have to be ready for any eventuality and take the race into our own hands in the final.