British Cycling

October 1, 2025

TIME-TRIAL TENSION: GB TAKES IT TO THE WIRE AT 2025 UEC EUROPEAN ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS

—- The podium was not to be for the Great British trio in the 2025 UEC European Road Championships as the elite men narrowly missing out; Ethan Hayter finishing fourth and Josh Tarling in fifth. Anna Henderson finished seventh overall in the elite women’s time-trial, to round out the three top-10 results for the Brits.

Elite men’s time-trial

It was a nail-biting half-hour during the elite men’s time-trial as Hayter and Tarling just missed out in the five-way battle for the podium.

Hayter set off conservatively, sitting in fifth place at the first checkpoint, with eight riders still to ride. Tarling set the fastest time on his, with Filippo Ganna (Italy) and recently-crowned world champion Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) moving him into third with their following times.

As the riders battled strong headwinds, by the halfway point, Tarling was still in third place, 36.52 seconds behind a dominant Evenepoel with Denmark’s Niklas Larsen just 1.32 seconds behind his podium spot. Hayter had moved up to seventh place, with 5.92 seconds to gain if he was going to take a medal.

At the base of the climb, with just 1.5km to go, Evenepoel and Ganna had all but secured their 1-2 positions, but the race for bronze was well and truly on. Larsen had stormed into third place, while Tarling had slowed slightly, now 2.33 seconds behind. Hayter however was continuing to move up in the standings, sitting in fifth place but still with a significant gap to the podium.

At the finish, Hayter seemed to have delivered his pacing strategy to perfection, moving up again into fourth place at the finish line. However, his time of 29:35.62 just wasn’t quite fast enough to secure a medal and he finished fourth overall, a heartbreaking 0.6 seconds off bronze. Tarling finished 1.35 seconds behind his teammate in fifth position.

Elite women’s time-trial

Third off the start line, with no space in the short 24km course to build into the effort, 2023 silver medallist Henderson put the power down from the word go. Being mindful to keep something in the tank for the final climb, Henderson was fourth fastest just under 5km in, 10.64 seconds behind initial leader Lieke Nooijen (Netherlands).

Nooijen’s lead didn’t last long however as by the halfway point Henderson had moved into a considerable lead of 48.16 seconds, with Germany’s Lisa Klein now trailing. Looking calm and comfortable with the majority of the race under her belt, Henderson had extended her lead to 1:18.54 as she reached the base of the Etoile climb kicker.

Working her way up the 5.2% gradient, Henderson showed no sign of slowing down and completed the course in 34:11.98, setting the fastest time before making her way to the hot seat to await her final result, with 27 riders still to complete.

Overall, having taken her brand-new world champion’s skinsuit out for its first event, Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser was not to be beaten with a time of 33:06.83. Henderson finished seventh overall, 1:05.14 behind Reusser.

– ENDS –

About British Cycling

British Cycling is the national governing body for the sport of cycling in Great Britain. We govern and develop the sport from grassroots participation through to supporting the riders representing Great Britain on the international stage.

Our purpose is to bring the joy of cycling to everyone, and we’re fulfilling this by building on the elite success of the Great Britain Cycling Team and enabling more people to discover the joys of our sport. Our 145,000 members, over 2,000 affiliated clubs, and 12,500 volunteers are at the heart of what we do and the impact we achieve.

For more information, visit www.britishcycling.org.uk.

Contact details:  

Emma Hope, Head of Communications 

+44 (0) 7384 214079

emmahope@britishcycling.org.uk

Ellie Stott, Great Britain Cycling Team Communications Manager 

+44 (0) 7718 570341 

elliestott@britishcycling.org.uk  

Gareth Burrell, Communications and PR Manager

+44 (0) 7718 394386

garethburrell@britishcycling.org.uk

 Will Kirkpatrick, Communications and PR Officer