French race walker Yohann Diniz celebrates after winning the men's 50km walk gold on Friday.

An apt banner kept popping into view above the barriers along the 50km walk course in Barcelona this morning. ‘Yohann c’est champagne’, it read, complete with a colourful cartoon depiction of the French team’s great hope for gold.

Appropriate because the defending champion Yohann Diniz, a wine expert away from the walks circuit, produced a performance of fizzing brilliance to retain his title on the sun-dappled Paseo Picasso. The 32-year-old led from the very first stride and lapped all but one of the 27-strong field to win gold in 3:40:37.

The Frenchman overcame a dramatic fall after 42km but his punishing schedule was too much for the Olympic champion Alex Schwazer, who dropped out after 40km, and the world champion Sergey Kirdyapkin who also failed to finish.

Poland’s Grzegorz Sudol made up for missing out on a world championship medal in Berlin last summer taking silver in a personal best time of 3:42:24, while Kirdyapkin’s compatriot Sergey Bakulin completed Russia’s Barcelona haul of walks medals with silver in 3:43:26, also a PB.

Spain’s veteran champion Jesús Ángel García produced a beautifully judged race to take fifth behind Robert Heffernan who missed out on a medal by two minutes despite breaking his Irish record.

For Diniz the victory is ample justification of his decision not to contest the 20km event for which he’d initially been entered by the French federation, and a welcome return to the top of the podium after world silver in 2007 and poor performances in last year’s worlds and the 2008 Olympics.

He certainly set off with intent, opening an incredible 30-second lead on the first of the 50 1km laps while two groups quickly formed behind him containing nine-men apiece.

The remains of Barcelona’s overnight downpour still lay on the roads and the walkers were no doubt thankful for the cool conditions with more than three and a half hours of tarmac-pounding effort ahead of them.

The Frenchman has been concentrating on 20km races this year to improve his speed and the extra pace rapidly became apparent as he stretched the gap on his chasers to 53-seconds by the time they reached the 5km mark and 56-seconds at 10km Diniz clipped off in 44:23.

By now the chasing group was down to six, led by the Russian pair, Bakulin and Kirdyapkin, Norway’s world silver medallist Trond Nymark, Sudol, Schwazer and his Italian team-mate Marco de Luca, with Finland’s Jarko Kinnunen another stride or three behind.

García, a bronze and silver medallist at the last two championships, was prominent in the third pack another 40s back, the 1993 world champion timing his effort with all the experience of a 41-year-old.

Up ahead Nymark briefly picked up the pace before dropping back as Kidyapkin and Sudol took on the chasing duties.

But Diniz kept ploughing on up and down the tree-lined avenue alongside Barcelona’s Parc de la Ciutadella, donning his dark glasses as the first sunshine of the day began to penetrate the clouds dappling the road in light and shade.

There was nothing shady about the Frenchman’s performance, however, as he exuded confidence, accepting and discarding caps as he scuttled up and down the route; at one point he tucked an ice-bag under the back rim of his white-peaked hat.

Diniz was relentless, seemingly inspired by his country’s magnificent night in the stadium on Thursday. He reached 20km in 1:28:09 and half-way in 1:49:56, on course to beat his winning time in Göteberg four years ago. The only question was how long he could keep this up?

The two Russians and Sudol had now pulled clear of de Marco as Schwazer worked his way back into medal contention but with half the race to go those four were now a minute and 45 seconds adrift.

Kirdyapkin was working hard, with a determined look and his long-arm swing. Schwazer employed his more awkward style and slightly lop-sided gait to begin the earnest chase.

Up ahead, however, Diniz was holding his advantage, his smoother gliding action taking him through 30km in 2:11:53 with Bakulin, Sudol and Schwazer now 10m clear of the world champion but still 1:45 in arrears, their battle now seemingly for the minor medals.

García had been making his way slowly up the field, but even he couldn’t resist Diniz’s pace as the Frenchman caught him 15km from home and the two walked together for two laps, drawing cheers and applause from the swelling crowd.

Dinz was still 1:41 ahead at 40km (2:55:30) and despite slowing over the last 10km, he crossed the line exhausted triumph adding his second European crown to the world silver he won three years ago.

The last stretch was clearly tough. Diniz could be seen talking to himself, willing his legs to keep going. Indeed, there was consternation in the French camp when he fell to the road after tripping on a kerb near a drinks station 8km out. But he hadn’t led for three hours only to let the crown slip now.

Schwazer had worse problems. Clearly in discomfort, the Italian stopped 13km from home to rub his right hamstring, hobbled on, stopped again, and eventually dropped out leaving Sudol to out muscle Bakulin in the battle for silver.

The Pole briefly closed the gap on Diniz to less than 1:30 but by now Diniz was simply too far ahead. The champion sunk to his knees and kissed the road before roaring at the skies and jumping up and down in delight.

He had just walked solo to the third quickest time ever at a European championships and now joins Abdon Pamich and Robert Korzeniowski as the third man to retain this title, cause enough for the champagne champion to down a glass or two of the best bubbly money can buy.