The European Championships were organized by the " Union Européenne de Cyclisme " ("European Cycling Union") (UEC). The European Championships were one of the twelve competitions in qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games in London .
The most successful athlete at the European Championship was 19-year-old British Laura Trott with two titles, in the team pursuit and in the Omnium . The most successful nation was Great Britain with seven gold medals, despite the early departure of its most successful driver, Sir Chris Hoy , who was ill. France followed in second place with just one gold medal and a total of seven medals. Germany came third in the medal table with one gold medal, two silver and one bronze, and Switzerland ninth with two silver medals. The Austrian federation, which only had two drivers at the start who finished fourth in the two-man team race, missed out on the medals.
A peripheral incident caused a stir: the Russian sprinter Denis Dmitrijew got lost on his bike during training with a teammate and landed on the motorway. Motorists alerted the police, who imposed a fine and then escorted the athletes to "omnisport".