It is the Danes who lead the race for the first half, but the Swiss, with Fabio Püntener, Janis Baumann, Alessandra Keller, Noëlle Buri, Elisa Alvarez and Thomas Litscher, are not far behind. Then Alessandra Keller would have wanted to play to her strengths, but she loses a lot of time - a puncture on Keller's rear wheel leaves the Swiss team a long way behind.

As the final rider, Litscher starts the race in sixth position and rides completely unleashed. Bronze was already within sight after half of the lap. Despite setting the fastest time of the day, Litscher was unable to catch the leading Italian Juri Zanotti and elite world champion Jordan Sarrou from France - just like at the world championships, it was bronze again.

"It's nice to have won a medal. On the other hand, I'm annoyed because more would probably have been possible," reports Alessandra Keller with mixed feelings.
The cross-country races at the European Championships will take place on Saturday with the U23 men and the elite categories, as well as on Sunday with the junior men's, junior women's and U23 women's races.