Tiago Ferreria of Portugal and Austria's Christina Kollmann won European titles in Slovakia ©UEC

Portugal's Tiago Ferreria and Austria's Christina Kollmann claimed the respective men's and women's titles at the European Mountain Bike Marathon Championships in Slovakia.

Ferreria worked with compatriot Luis Leao Pinto for much of the 134 kilometre course in Svit.

He left his partner behind for the last 20km, however, and soloed to the line for victory.

Pinto suffered heartbreak as his hard work was in vain due to a mechanical problem.

This knocked him out of the podium positions and into fourth spot.



Silver went to Alban Lakata of Austria with Germany's Karl Platt taking bronze.

Kollman managed to leave behind Spain's Claudia Galicia Cortina to claim the gold medal.

The Spaniard had to make do with silver as another Austrian, Angelika Polizei, won bronze.