Road race crash in Ljubljana

The Polish Cycling Federation (PZKol) confirmed that Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney has withdrawn from her remaining events at the 2026 European Road Championships in Ljubljana. The 32-year-old cyclist was originally scheduled to compete in two additional disciplines during the championship programme, starting with Tuesday's mixed team relay and concluding with Wednesday's individual time trial. Her withdrawal follows an incident on Saturday afternoon during the final kilometre of the elite women's road race. While contending for a podium place in the closing sprint, Niewiadoma-Phinney lost control of her bicycle on the final corner and crashed to the pavement a few hundred metres before the finish line. Television replays confirmed that the crash occurred without contact from any competing riders in the lead group. Despite suffering the fall, the Polish rider was able to remount her bicycle and crossed the finish line to complete the race in sixth place overall.

Rider reaction and physical condition

Niewiadoma-Phinney entered the continental competition with strong expectations after earning the silver medal in the road race at the World Championships in Montreal. Following Saturday's race in Slovenia, the three-time European Championship medalist acknowledged the immediate physical impact of the crash in comments to Cycling Pro Net.

“Definitely everything hurts. We were all just fighting for the corner and I think I lost my front wheel.”

In a separate interview broadcast on Eurosport, she noted that she could not immediately pinpoint the exact cause of the crash and planned to review video footage of the turn. Two days after the race, on Monday, PZKol published an official statement confirming her withdrawal from both upcoming events. The federation did not provide detailed medical reports on the rider's physical condition, but the decision took her out of medal contention for the remainder of the tournament.

Roster changes for the mixed relay

To fill the vacant position in the elite mixed team relay, PZKol called up Nadia Hartman from the MAT Atom Deweloper Wrocław club. Hartman joins a six-member Polish national squad scheduled to compete on the course in Ljubljana on Tuesday, 6 October 2026. The women's portion of the Polish lineup features Hartman alongside Dominika Włodarczyk and Martyna Szczęsna. The men's portion consists of Michał Kwiatkowski, Filip Maciejuk, and Dawid Lewandowski. The mixed relay events in the Slovenian capital commence at 11:00 with the junior competition, while the elite category begins at 15:30. Live television broadcast coverage on Eurosport 1, HBO Max, and Player starts ten minutes prior to the elite start at 15:20.

Single Polish starter in time trial

The European Championships will conclude in Ljubljana on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, with the women's elite individual time trial. Following Niewiadoma-Phinney's withdrawal, the national cycling federation confirmed that Poland will not field a second rider in the solo competition. Dominika Włodarczyk will compete as the only Polish representative in the women's elite time trial field. Włodarczyk is the only member of the Polish women's contingent scheduled to race in both the mixed relay and the individual time trial across the final two days of the championships. The withdrawal brings an early conclusion to Niewiadoma-Phinney's campaign in Slovenia, leaving her sixth-place result in Saturday's road race as her sole completed contest of the European Championships.