Dutchman Jacobsen wins European cycling road race title

Fabio Jacobsen of the Netherlands won a sprint finish for gold in the cycling road race at the multisport European Championships as Italy missed a fifth straight win in the event.
Jacobsen outsprinted Frenchman Arnaud Demare who had to settle for silver as in 2020. Tim Merlier of Belgium took bronze.
It was the biggest career success for Jacobsen, who won five stages at the 2019 and 2021 Vuelta, the points ranking of the 2021 race, and a Tour de France stage last month.
In 2020 Jacobsen had crashed heavily at a race in Poland and was in an induced coma with serious injuries but recovered and returned to racing last year.
The 2019 winner Elia Viviani was the best Italian in seventh in the 209-kilometre event from Murnau to Munich's city centre where the riders completed five laps before the finish.
Silvan Dillier from Switzerland and Lukas Pöstlberger from Austria formed an escape group early on and led for a long time before being caught with just under 30km left.
German two-time bronze medallist Pascal Ackermann crashed in a narrow section in Munich and heavily hit the barriers, forcing him to retire.
Three track cycling finals are scheduled for later Sunday in Munich.