Adrien Boichis (France) was fastest in the under-23 cross country Olympic (XCO) race at the European Mountain Bike Championships in Tamengos, Anadia. Charlie Aldridge (Great Britain) and Dario Lillo (Switzerland) completed the podium of the last race of the European Championship.
The Frenchman finished the eight laps (one start loop, one start lap and six full laps) in 1h13m36.755s, 10.665s ahead of Dario Lillo and 33.447s ahead of Charlie Aldridge, second and third, respectively.
The three riders, in fact, stood out from the rest early on and alternated the lead between them throughout the race. Denmark’s Tobias Lillelund was still in the front group, but was left behind in an intermediate position with three laps to go and finished fourth.
By the penultimate passage over the finish line Charlie Aldridge was 16 seconds behind, and was unable to recover, falling slightly behind but securing the bronze medal. The battle was between Dario Lillo and Adrien Boichis, who were neck to neck entering the final lap. However, the Frenchman managed to gain a ten second advantage in the last lap, and became the European Champion.
