Vlad Dascalu, European champion in men's U23 European XCO Championship 2019 in Brno

Romanian biker Vlad Dascalu won the Under 23 European Mountain Bike XCO Championship 2019, thus becoming the first European champion in the history of the Romanian cycling, a release sent to AGERPRES reads. 

"Vlad Dascalu (21 years of age) became the first Romanian in history who got a medal in a major cycling competition. The kid born in eastern Falticeni and who emigrated to Spain when only 9, won the gold medal in the men U-23 Final (XCO) in Brno, the Czech Republic. This outcome is the greatest success of the Romanian cycling after the five world titles and the Paralympic title grabbed by Eduard Novak in paracycling. Leader in the juniors World Cup with three successes this season, Dascalu decisively dominated the race in the Czech EC, too. He was supported and encouraged in Romanian and Spanish on the difficult road by his mates with the national team and those with the Brujula Bike Racing Team," the release adds. 

The president of the Romanian Cycling Federation, Eduard Novak, said the Romanian athlete's performance is historical, specifying that Dascalu could participate in next year's Tokyo Olympic Games. 

Dascalu had his debut in the World Cup in 2017 with the Dinamo BikeXpert Romanian team, then transferred to Spain, his country of adoption, and is currently the most promising young biker in Europe in mountain bike. 

In August, Dascalu will try to win in Canada the first medal for Romania in a World Championship.