Fabio Jakobsen wins European Championship road race gold

Fabio Jakobsen (Netherlands) won a mass sprint to claim gold in the elite men's road race at the European Championships in Munich, Germany. The Quick-Step sprinter, who was selected for this year's Tour de France ahead of Mark Cavendish, beat Arnaud Demare (France) and Tim Merlier (Belgium), who took silver and bronze respectively.

Jakobsen had started the 208km race as favourite and he and his Dutch team-mates duly delivered. "We [Dutch riders] don't race together much as team-mates but we had a good plan and everybody did his work and made a huge effort to put me in position," Jakobsen said afterwards. "I'm super happy to be European champion."

Italy, who's riders have claimed the last four gold medals in this race, looked strong as the race entered the final kilometre, with the Belgium leadout also looking good. However, it was Jakobsen's strength which proved decisive as he overhauled Merlier. 

The win tops off an excellent season for Jakobsen, which included a win on stage two of the Tour de France, and completes his comeback from a life threatening crash at the Tour of Poland in 2020.

Jakobsen's team-mate Danny van Poppel finished fourth, with Ireland's Sam Bennet in fifth place. No British riders are taking part in the road races, although Ineos-Grenadiers Tom Pidcock is racing in the mountain bike event, hoping to repeat his gold medal success from last year's Tokyo Olympics.