The road racing season is almost coming to a close..but there\u2019s 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\u2013but alas, this weekend is Canuck-free, because Europe.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s 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\u2026erm, skinsuit, will also go for another Euro title in the TT. For what it\u2019s worth, the European championships jersey is pretty stunning.<\/p>\n
Vollering again?<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s 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\u2019s a slight wrinkle, though: like Tadej Poga\u010dar last year, Vollering can\u2019t actually wear the European champion\u2019s jersey if she wins while holding the rainbow jersey. Poga\u010dar, 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\u2019s jersey made for training. (How awesome would that be?)<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe my team can design a half-and-half jersey, or even combine three \u2013 the rainbow, European and Swiss champion\u2019s colours. It would be nice to show them all together. It\u2019s a luxury problem to have,\u201d she said to CyclingUpToDate.<\/a><\/p>\n Derek Gee showed us why the Giro and the Tour need to bring something very special back<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The women\u2019s European champs has been a who\u2019s-who of women\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s 131-km route starts in Ljubljana before heading through Komenda and toward the finishing circuit in \u0160en\u010dur. The key feature is Mo\u017ejanca, 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.<\/p>\n