Italy reclaimed the European title in the team time trial mixed relay at the UEC European Road Championships in Limburg on Thursday.
The defending champions France, who beat Italy to the title in 2023 did not enter a team in the race.
The victory marks Italy's second victory in the mixed relay since the event debuted in the European Championships in 2019.
Edoardo Affini, Mattia Cattaneo, and Mirco Maestri were second to Germany at the changeover after 28.3km but the trio of women Elena Cecchini, Vittoria Guazzini, and Gaia Masetti, pulled out a 17-second victory over the German team of Nils Politt, Jannik Steimle, Max Walscheid, Lisa Klein, Franziska Koch, and Mieke Kröger.
For the first time in European TTT history, Belgium earned a medal with the bronze. The men's trio with Edward Theuns, Noah Vandenbranden, and Victor Vercouillie pulled out a 27-second lead over the Polish squad in their laps, and the women Alana Castrique, Marion Norbert Riberolle, and Jesse Vandenbulcke held off the Poles by 16 seconds to win the bronze.
Only six nations entered teams in the event, with Poland's Kacper Gieryk, Filip Maciejuk, Szymon Sajnok, Natalia Krzeslak, Karolina Kumiega, and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka taking fourth. Ukraine (Vitaliy Hryniv, Semen Simon, Daniil Yakovlev, Yuliia Biriukova, Olha Shekel, Tetiana Yashchenko) were fifth and Bulgaria (Martin Papanov, Petrov Yordan Petrov, Emilov Emil Stoynev, Valentinova Petya Minkova, Miroslavova Gergana Stoyanova, Nikolaeva Ivana Tonkova) sixth.
Results
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