The road racing season is almost coming to a close..but there’s still some big ones coming up. We Canadian cycling fans saw some awesome performances from Team Canada last week during the 2026 world road champs–but alas, this weekend is Canuck-free, because Europe.

The women’s elite road race at the 2026 European championships rolls out from Ljubljana, Slovenia on Oct. 3, with a blue-and-white jersey up for grabs. The field includes Elisa Longo Borghini, Marlen Reusser and plenty of other contenders looking to finish the season with a major title. Reusser, who successfully defended her rainbow jersey…erm, skinsuit, will also go for another Euro title in the TT. For what it’s worth, the European championships jersey is pretty stunning.

Vollering again?

And then there’s Demi Vollering, who just won the rainbow jersey in spectacular fashion on Saturday in Montreal. The Dutch star is back to defend her European title, looking to add another blue-and-white jersey to her collection. There’s a slight wrinkle, though: like Tadej Pogačar last year, Vollering can’t actually wear the European champion’s jersey if she wins while holding the rainbow jersey. Pogačar, and Reusser, faced the same situation after winning both titles in 2025. The Swiss ace even joked that maybe she could get a cool combo rainbow/Euro/Swiss national champion’s jersey made for training. (How awesome would that be?)

“Maybe my team can design a half-and-half jersey, or even combine three – the rainbow, European and Swiss champion’s colours. It would be nice to show them all together. It’s a luxury problem to have,” she said to CyclingUpToDate.

Derek Gee showed us why the Giro and the Tour need to bring something very special back

The women’s European champs has been a who’s-who of women’s cycling champions. Anna van der Breggen won the inaugural edition, followed by Marianne Vos in 2017 and Marta Bastianelli in 2018. Since then, Dutch riders have dominated, with Lorena Wiebes, Annemiek van Vleuten, Ellen van Dijk, Amy Pieters and Mischa Bredewold among the winners.

This year’s 131-km route starts in Ljubljana before heading through Komenda and toward the finishing circuit in Šenčur. The key feature is Možjanca, a 2.1-km climb averaging around 10 per cent, tackled twice. From its summit, riders face a fast descent and just five relatively flat kilometres to the finish.

Pogačar isn’t the only famous Slovenian who won’t be able to race on home roads for the big race. His partner, pro cyclist Urska Zigart, crashed just before the worlds, reinjuring her jaw and had to skip both the worlds and the European championships. Thankfully both of cycling’s royal couple are training again.

You can watch the European championships on Flobikes.com. Enjoy it while you can–because after Il Lombardia, there’s not a lot of road races left–then it’s all ‘cross!

Affiliate links present. Canadian Cycling Magazine may receive commissions