THE FOCUS TURNS TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HONOURS

The professional racing calendar takes a slight pause this week as National Championships pop up across Europe, Africa, Asia and in the Americas. It’s a special and eagerly anticipated period on the cycling calendar, bringing a unique blend of opportunity, pressure and tactical complexity – particularly in road racing.

For the winners, the reward is far more than just a title. National champions earn the right to wear their country’s colours for the next year, a privilege that remains one of the sport’s most coveted honours and a powerful source of motivation for riders all over the world.

For 2026, 16 riders from CANYON//SRAM – spanning both the WorldTeam and Generation squads – will return to their home nations across two continents to contest national championship events from June 24-28, taking on the time trial and/or road race disciplines.

Among them, several riders are looking to defend titles earned 12 months ago. Reigning Eritrean double champion Monaliza Araya Chlenslasie will aim to go back-to-back, alongside British Elite National Time Trial Champion Zoe Bäckstedt, Polish and German Elite counterparts Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka and Antonia Niedermaier, and Germany’s 2025 U23 Time Trial Champion Justyna Czapla.

Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, whose red-and-white Polish national champion’s jersey has become synonymous with her aggressive racing style, will not look to reclaim the honour. Nevertheless, Agnieszka heads to the championships in good form and quietly hopeful of success:

“I’m feeling good heading into nationals. They’re always different kind of races though – you never really know what can happen on the day! For the time trial, I feel ready and I’ll be defending my title. For the road race, I would also love to keep the jersey within the team. The course looks a bit more open than last year, so I expect a race where many scenarios are possible. We’ll need to see how it develops.”

As expected, and in keeping with previous years, the largest CANYON//SRAM presence will be in Germany, where the team will field a strong five-rider line-up on home soil. While two time trial titles are up for defence, focus will especially be on securing victory in the road race, with the champions’ jersey slipping through the fingers in 2025 despite numerical advantage against the ever-impressive Koch (TFS).

This year’s championships take place in the Thüringen region, with both races held on roads that are rarely straight and feature long, steady gradients rather than punchy climbs. The time trial covers 26km and a modest 270m of elevation gain on a rolling circuit, while the road race unfolds on a 27km loop with almost double the climbing. Riders gradually ascend for nearly half of each lap before navigating a gently twisting, descending roads back towards the finish.

Fresh from a sensational overall podium at the Giro d’Italia Women, Antonia arrives as a key rider to watch. Looking ahead to the two races, she said:

“The course for the time trial is quite okay. I’ll only see it on Thursday, so right now, I’m just judging it from the profile, which looks fine. For sure, I want to defend the time trial title, but I’ve also checked the road race course, which looks nice and really hard. I’m just a little bit afraid that the climbs are not long enough but we’ll see.”

Crossing the Channel to the United Kingdom and west into Wales, Zoe will once again line up close to home, looking to build on a superb Tour de Suisse last weekend. There, the mega-talent stormed to her maiden WorldTour road race victory on stage 3 before backing it up with a classy second place in the stage 4 time trial, finishing just 11 secs behind the current Elite World and European Time Trial Champion.

Her first opportunity for further success comes in Thursday’s individual time trial, contested on a narrow, rectangular 26km circuit of gently rolling terrain and subtly twisting country lanes.

She will then team up with Generation rider and fellow Welshwoman Awen Roberts for Sunday’s 128km road race, featuring 1800m of elevation across two distinct circuits. The first lap includes a steep 500m wall at 13%, attacked three times, while the second is faced 4.5 times and offers more manageable gradients across the uphill sections. Both 21-year-olds will hope to feature prominently in what is likely to be an animated finale, raced on a circuit identical to last year’s edition, where Zoe finished sixth.

Upbeat, motivated and full of confidence, Zoe gives her thoughts on the long weekend ahead:

“I’m excited for nationals – it’s not often I get the race in the UK so I enjoy the moments when I do! It’s going to be tough on that road race circuit but hopefully it suits me, and then the time trial course is almost exactly like Tour de Suisse! For the TT, the focus is just on getting the most out of myself that I possibly can, and pushing myself to chase that title. For the road race, I’d love to podium. We will see how my legs are after Suisse, and after some easy days, but I want to make it hard.”

Two riders have already wrapped up their national championship campaigns this June. Wilma Aintila pinned on numbers two weekends ago at the Finnish National Championships, getting the team off to a strong start with silver in the time trial and bronze in the road race. The following weekend, Nastya Kolesava added a title to the tally, riding solo to victory in the national road race of Belarus.

NATIONS AND RIDERS

Eritrea – Wed (TT), Fri (RR): Monaliza Araya Chnleslasie

Ethiopia – Wed (TT), Fri (RR): Tsige Kahsay Kiros

Germany – Fri (TT), Sat (RR): Justyna Czapla, Rosa Klöser (RR only), Antonia Niedermaier, Jule Märkl, Joëlle Messemer

Great Britain – Thu (TT), Sun (RR): Zoe Bäckstedt, Awen Roberts

Italy – Wed (TT), Sun (RR): Erja Bianchi, Chiara Consonni (RR only), Soraya Paladin (RR only)

Netherlands – Wed (TT), Sun (RR): Maike van der Duin

Poland – Fri (TT), Sun (RR): Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, Weronika Wąsaty

Portugal – Sun (RR): Maria Martins