France's Christophe Laporte celebrates after winning the men's road race title at the European Road Championships in a sprint finish ©Getty Images

Christophe Laporte of France won the men’s road race title at the European Cycling Union Road European Championships, after an attack 12 kilometres from the finish line paid off.

Laporte looked like he was going to be reeled in after attempting to break away from the field, with Wout Van Aert of Belgium reconnecting with his rival’s back wheel in a thrilling concluding sprint.

Laporte held on to triumph in a time of 4hours 15min 50sec, the same time as Van Aert, and the rider who completed the podium Olav Kooij of the Netherlands.

Fourth place went to Belgium’s Arnaud De Lie who was also part of the concluding sprint, while fifth place was taken by Mike Teunissen of the Netherlands who was nine seconds behind the leading four.

For Laporte, victory in the 199.8km race from Assen to Drenthe in the Netherlands, followed a silver medal at last year’s Road World Championships at Wollongong in Australia.

The route for the European Championships men's road race took the field 199.8km from Assen to Drenthe ©Getty Images
The route for the European Championships men's road race took the field 199.8km from Assen to Drenthe ©Getty Images

Laporte made the move which formed what proved to be the winning breakaway on the penultimate lap of the finishing circuit.

He was joined by seven riders, before dropping them all with 12km to go and holding on for a solo victory.

“It's hard to believe," Laporte said after the race, as reported by Cycling News.

"It was a crazy final. I felt good and I thought, 'OK, if I go to the sprint with guys like De Lie and Van Aert it will be hard to win. I tried and it worked.”

The men’s road race concluded this year’s European Road Championships, with the 2024 edition due to be held at Limburg and Flanders in Belgium from September 11 to 15.