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Giulio Ciccone has questioned the verdict of the photo finish in Sunday’s men’s road race at the European Championships, where he was judged to have lost out to Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel by a hair’s breadth.
The Italian posted on Instagram on Monday afternoon saying he had doubts about the decision, and demanding to see the photo finish image “on the actual finish line”.
“The title was awarded by a margin of 0.0028 seconds – that’s 2.8 thousandths of a second,” he wrote.
“I’ve watched the available footage hundreds of times and, in the shots where the finish line is visible, I keep seeing a sequence of events that I cannot reconcile with that verdict.”
Ciccone added that he had spoken on Monday morning with race officials and technical experts from his federation, who explained to him how the photo finish equipment works.
“I’m not asking for another explanation,” he said. “I’m asking to see the photo finish that corresponds exactly to the actual finish line.
“I would like to be able to see, beyond any doubt, our two bikes crossing the exact point at which, according to the regulations, the finish is determined. Because if a European title is decided by 2.8 thousandths of a second, I think it is fair to ask that that very moment be shown with the same precision with which the result was determined.”
The Lidl-Trek rider took to the podium to accept his silver medal after the race, and later told Cycling Pro Nethe was “really, really disappointed” by the result.
He has since been clear not to discredit Evenepoel, the declared winner, who he said on Instagram was “the strongest rider” on the day. “I have enormous respect for him, and that has never been in doubt,” he said.
“I am not asking for a television replay to replace the photo finish. I am not questioning Remco’s merit or the extraordinary race he rode. I am asking for something very simple: to see the photo-finish at the actual finish line.
“If that image confirms the verdict, there will be nothing more to say. But until I am shown that evidence, for me it remains a question to which I have not yet received an answer.”
Cycling Weekly contacted the organiser of this year’s UEC European Championships for a response to Ciccone’s comments. A spokesperson for the UEC said: “The photo-finish system used at the 2026 UEC Road European Championships (EtherLynx Vision PRO X) records the finish line thousands of times per second (13,000 in the specific case of the European Championship races), making it possible to determine the order of arrival with extreme precision, even in the event of minimal differences.
“It is important to clarify that the photo-finish is not a traditional photograph. The final image is composed of the chronological sequence of recordings taken at the finish line. For this reason the horizontal axis represents time and not distance.
“This can create apparent distortions of wheels, bicycles and riders, without affecting the accuracy of the result in any way. In cycling, the decisive reference point is the foremost part (tangent) of the front wheel at the exact moment it crosses the finish line. At the European Championships, two independent photo-finish systems are used, which provide two separate images for verification of the result.”
The UEC also provided both of their photo finish images, which are published below.
