European countries selected elite men’s national road champions on Sunday, with Nicolas Vogondy scoring victory in France and Fillippo Simeoni earning the Italian title.

France

Agritubel’s Nicolas Vogondy earned the second French national title of his career Sunday, winning the 201.1km road race in Semur-en-Auxois.

The win adds to Vogondy’s first national jersey, which he earned six years ago. On Sunday, Vogondy finished 30 seconds ahead of Arnaud Coyot (Caisse d'Epargne), Julien Loubet (Ag2r) and Dimitri Champion (Bouygues Telecom).

The 30-year-old Vogondy took a chance and attacked out of the field as the day’s early break-away effort was being pulled back by the peloton. Vogondy joined Mattieu Sprick, the last survivor of the break, with 35km remaining in the race.

After shedding Sprick, Vogondy appeared close to being caught by the Coyot-led chase, enjoying an advantage of less that 10 seconds five kilometers from the line.

“I knew I had to either try or give up,” Vogondy said. “I did what I could to hold them off.”

Vogondy, who finished fourth in the national time trial championship on Thursday, said he was worried that the big effort in the final kilometers would cause him to cramp.

“If that didn’t happen,” said Vogondy, “I might make it … and I did.”

Vogondy, who says he’s “a little superstitious” said he has been worried about pinning on his race number – No. 13 – at the start of the race, “but then maybe being worried helped me do my best.”

Vogondy signed his first professional contract before the age of 20 (Francaise des Jeux) last won the French national title in Briancon in 2002.

French national road championship
1. Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel), 239km in 6:03:04
2. Arnaud Coyot (Caisse d'Epargne), at 0:33
3. Julien Loubet (Ag2r)
4. Dimitri Champion (Bouygues Telecom)
5. Stéphane Augé (Cofidis)

Italy

Filippo Simeoni (Flaminia-Bossini), perhaps best known for incurring the wrath of Lance Armstrong after testifying against the infamous doping doctor Michelle Ferrari, won the Italian national road championship in Bergamo on Sunday.

The 37-year-old Simeoni finished ahead of Quick Step’s Giovanni Visconti and Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) after launching a blistering attack with 4km to go in the 254km race.

"I have dreamed of this moment for nine years," he said.

Italian national road championship
1. Filippo Simeoni (Flaminia-Bossini)
2. Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step)
3. Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas)
4. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner)
5. Luca Paolini (Acqua Sapone)
6. Paolo Bossoni (Lampre)
7. Ivan Fanelli (Cinelli-OPD)
8. Marco Marcato (Cycle Collstrop)
9. Alessandro Ballan (Lampre)
10. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r)

Belgium

Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) won the Belgium national road title on Sunday as he outsprinted Sven Vanthourenhout (Sunweb ProJob) and Nico Eeckhout (Topsport Vlaanderen) to the line in Knokke-Heist.

Van Grev Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) earned fourth place and Quick Step’s Tom Boonen rounded out the top five.

A neo-pro, Roelandts will celebrate his 23rd birthday on July 2. It is his first win this season.

The Netherlands

World cyclocross champion Lars Boom (Rabobank) won the Dutch national championship road race on Sunday, finishing two seconds ahead of teammate Koos Moerenhout and Steven de Jongh (Quick Step) in Ootmarsum.

Portugal

Joao Cabreira (LA-MSS) won the Portuguese national road title on Sunday. Tiago Machado and 2007 champion Candido Barbosa finished second and third, respectively, in the 144.2km race.

Poland

Marcin Sapa (DHL Author) is the new Polish road champion, outsprinting Bartlomiej Matysiak (Legia) to win the 218km race. Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas) finished third.

Polish national road championship
1. Marcin Sapa (DHL Author), 218km in 5:13:44
2. Barlomiej Matysiak (Legia), same time
3. Maciej Bodnar (Liquigas), at 0:10
4. Blaeej Janiaczyk (Mroz-Action-Uniqa), at 0:31
5. Tomasz Smole (CC Etupes), at 0:33

Latvia

Normunds Lasis (Dynatek Latvija) finished nine seconds ahead of Kalvis Eisaks (Rietumu Banka Riga) to win the Latvian national road crown on Sunday. His teammate, Herberts Pudans, was third in the 183.7km race.

Latvian national road championship
1. Normunds Lasis (Dynatek Latvija), 183.7km in 4:29:04
2. Kalvis Eisaks (Rietumu Banka Riga), at 0:09
3. Herberts Pudans (Dynatek Latvija), same time
4. Kristofers Racenajs (Rietumu Banka Riga), at 0:17
5. Daniels Ernestovskis (Dynatek Latvija), s.t.

Luxembourg

Frank Schleck (CSC) became champion of Luxembourg on Sunday, breaking away on the last lap with Benoit Joachim and then dropping him in the final kilometers. Christian Poos took third.

It was the second national road title for the 28-year-old Schleck, who claimed his first in 2005.

Luxembourg national road championship
1. Frank Schleck (CSC), 165.6km in 4:11:13
2. Benoit Joachim, at 0:22
3. Christian Poos, at 0:45
4. Kim Kirchen, at 0:47
5. Andy Schleck, same time

Russia

Sergey Ivanov (Astana) won the Russia cycling crown for the fifth time on Sunday with a decisive attack some 22km from the finish, crossing more than two minutes ahead of runner-up Alexander Bazhenov (Parkpe) and third-placed Roman Klimov (Katyusha). Ivanov’s previous victories came in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2005.

Russian national road championship
1. Sergey Ivanov (Astana)
2. Alexander Bazhenov (Parkpe), at 2:04
3. Roman Klimov (Katyusha), at 2:06
4. Alexander Arekeev (Acqua e Sapone), at 2:21

2008 European National Road Champions
Elite Men
Germany: Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner)
Belgium: Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto)
Luxembourg: Frank Schleck
Estonia: Jaan Kirsipuu (CFC Sport Club)
Denmark: Nicki Sorensen (CSC)
Spain: Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne)
France: Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel)
Italy: Filippo Simeoni (Flaminia)
Kazakhstan: Assan Bazayev (Astana)
Netherlands: Lars Boom (Rabobank)
Russia: Sergey Ivanov (Astana)
Switzerland: Markus Zberg (Gerolsteiner)
Portugal: Joao Cabreira (LA-MSS)
Poland: Marcin Sapa (DHL Author)
Latvia: Normunds Lasis (Dynatek Latvija)