The annual European national road and time-trial championships, traditionally held the weekend before the start of the Tour de France, offers riders the opportunity to earn valuable world-ranking points, qualify for upcoming world championship or Olympic squads, and to wear their national colors for the following 12 months.
The 2024 national championships brought three new jerseys to Team Jayco AlUla. Veteran Dylan Groenewegen and rising star Mauro Schmid stormed to victory in their respective national road race championships in the Netherlands and Switzerland, while in Ireland, teammate Eddie Dunbar took the national time trial title in his first race since crashing heavily at the Giro d’Italia in May.
Groenewegen, 31, powered to the finish line in Arnhem well ahead of second-place finisher Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) to secure his second elite Dutch road race title, eight years after his first national championship. The course featured nine punchy circuits before eight short local laps, covering a total of 198.5km. To get to the finish line as fresh as possible, Groenewegen had the support of Jayco AlUla teammates Jan Maas and Elmar Reinders, though they were not enough to contain a motivated and unpredictable peloton.
"It was all gambling," Groenewegen said in a post-race interview. "At one point there were 15 people ahead and I had to cross with a group on the Posbank climb. Then Visma-Lease a Bike broke away with two people and everything came together again. The boys bent over backwards to get me into position. After that I was confident that it would be a sprint."
In the finale, 21 riders were credited as finishing in the same time, though Groenewegen won by several bike lengths aboard his Propel Advanced SL equipped with a CADEX 50 Ultra WheelSystem and CADEX Aero Integrated Handlebar. The five-time Tour de France stage winner was thrilled, both for the victory and for the opportunity to wear his national jersey at the upcoming Tour de France.
"I am super happy, this is a jersey for a whole year, so that is nice,” Groenewegen said. “It was not very easy, especially not at the beginning, the whole team rode so hard for this, the boys gave it their everything to make it come to a sprint. It's really nice to finish it off like this with the win, I was really convinced of my ability in the last kilometer and it is special to take the jersey to the Tour de France now."
SUPER SCHMID SOLOS IN SWITZERLAND
In Aire-la-Ville, Switzerland, Schmid soloed to his first ever national road title. The 24-year-old took the initiative attack and go it alone, pushing his Propel Advanced SL equipped with a CADEX 50 Ultra WheelSystem and CADEX Aero Integrated Handlebar to comfortably take the victory 17 seconds ahead of Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro Cycling).
The victory was especially significant because Schmid was riding alone without teammates while others boasted rosters larger than what would be allowed in a non-championship road race.
“I tried to always be in front, especially with Tudor Pro Cycling having 15 guys here and FDJ and Q36.5 with numbers, too,” he said. “Somehow I ended up with one guy off the front with 80km to go and he stopped working, so I attacked with 50km to go and went solo for two laps before some guys came across. What was left of the bunch was 10 seconds behind us on the last climb, so I just went for it one last time, and I was able to ride away. I think I just had really good legs the whole day and always had the race under control."
DUNBAR RETURNS TO FORM AFTER GIRO INJURY
In Ireland, Dunbar took his first elite national time trial title. In what was one of the hardest time trials the Irishman has ever faced, Dunbar piloted his Trinity Advanced Pro and CADEX Aero WheelSystem over the hilly Limerick course to complete the 36.6km route in 45:09, just 15 seconds ahead of rival Ryan Mullen of BORA-hansgrohe.
The result came as validation for the 27-year-old from County Cork after bitter disappointment in May, when he was forced to abandon the Giro d’Italia following a knee injury sustained on Stage 2.
“I think the technical side of the course, with quite a few corners, is what won it for me today,” Dunbar said. “I needed that, and it’s nice to know that the legs were there after all the mishaps this year. To get the national jersey is massive. I have a full set (of time trial titles) now—junior, U23 and elite— so that's nice. I’m just delighted.”
