Simon Andreassen and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot win the European XCC Championship 2024

The Danish Simon Andreassen takes the gold medal at the 2024 European XCC Championship after defeating Julian Schelb and Luca Braidot. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot also climbs to the top of the podium by beating Puck Pieterse. In the junior category, Sven Sommer and Marusa Tereza Serkezi have signed the victory.

Andreassen and Ferrand-Prevot win at the 2024 European XCC Championship

The Romanian town of Cheile Gradistei has hosted the European XCC Championship, awaiting tomorrow's Team Relay race and the XCO weekend. A thick layer of fog welcomed the riders, who faced a slippery and wet circuit that forced them to push their biking skills to the limit. In a race as explosive and short as the Short Track, the mud hardened the conditions and multiplied the chances of making a mistake that could ruin all the preparation.

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The men's race took place under a fine curtain of rain and on terrain marked by a good layer of mud. Simon Andreassen was the fastest and crossed the finish line in first position to claim the gold and wear one of the most coveted jerseys on the calendar. The Dane continues his good form after winning the XCO World Cup in Araxá; proof of this is that he finished third in the Danish XCC Championship last season.

Behind, a surprising Julian Schelb took second place, the veteran German rider less accustomed to being in such noble positions on the leaderboard. The third position went to the Italian Luca Braidot.

In the women's category, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot has achieved yet another honor in her legendary career. The current world champion has also been crowned the best in the continental race. The Frenchwoman managed to beat a Puck Pieterse who came with everything after keeping MTB in the chamber for a while; Nicole Koller took the bronze medal by finishing in third place.

The Swiss Sven Sommer won the gold medal in the junior men's category after defeating Micha Alder (Switzerland) and Aksel Laforce (Norway) in a close duel, second and third, respectively. The Slovenian Marusa Tereza Serkezi has imposed herself with a relative advantage in the junior women's category, ahead of Lara Liehner (Switzerland) and Regina Bruchner (Hungary).