The men's ETU European Championships was full on non-stop action that saw David Hauss become the champ with an incredible run over Switzerland's own Sven Riederer and Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt.
The swim, as usual, was led by Richard Varga (SVK). With him were the strong Russian swimmers Dmitry Polyanskiy and former European Champion Ivan Vasiliev. Together, the men worked to create a small lead along with Italians Delian Stateff and Alessandro Fabian.
When race favourite Javier Gomez Noya (ESP) left T1, his foot slipped from the pedal causing his bike to veer to the left and nearly crashed. He struggled to get his shoes fitted again and by the time he set off, the race leaders were away up the road.
Once they were free from T1, the strong cyclists worked hard to maintain command of the race but soon they were joined by the Norwegian biking powerhouse, Blummenfelt.
Meanwhile, Gomez stopped at the wheel station to change his front wheel due to the damage caused in T1. He then joined a small group with Yegor Martynenko (UKR) and before too long this group had caught the chase group.
However the powerful 20-man lead group pushed hard to create distance, taking the leading peloton further and further away. As they began the climb with two laps to go, it was Russian Alexander Bryukhankov, who slid out the back of the group with a rear wheel puncture.
With the six lap bike course in the books, Hauss immediately stamped his mark on the race by setting a blistering pace. Behind him five athletes were struggling to find anything like that pace and it was amongst them that the battle began for the silver and bronze.
Hauss pushed harder and harder on the twisting course and established a commanding lead that would take him to the finish with almost a minute's advantage.
Behind, the chasing pack lost members, got new ones and finally with a sprint for the finish it was Blummenfelt and Riederer who sprinted down to the finish line. With a last push, it was Riederer, on home soil, who took silver and a jubilant Blummenfelt who took bronze.
Results: ETU European Champs
Elite Men
1. David Hauss (FRA) 1:52:55
2. Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:53:13
3. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) 1:53:16
4. Richard Varga (SVK) 1:53:20
5. Thomas Bishop (GBR) 1:53:22
6. Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS) 1:53:46
7. Francesc Godoy (ESP) 1:54:00
8. Alessandro Fabian (ITA) 1:54:03
9. Matthew Sharp (GBR) 1:54:07
10. Tamás Tóth (HUN) 1:54:59
