GERMANY SETS WORLD RECORD IN WOMEN’S TEAM SPRINT, ITALY WINS MEN’S PURSUIT AT 2021 TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

DAY 1

Germany set a new world record in the three-rider women’s team sprint final at the track cycling world championships on Wednesday, while the Netherlands added the men’s title to their Olympic gold medal. The German trio of Lea Friedrich, Pauline Grabosch and Emma Hinze comfortably saw off the Russian Cycling Federation by 0.654 seconds despite trailing early on in Roubaix. Britain beat Japan to take bronze. Friedrich and Hinze were the pair who lost out to China, absent from the event on Wednesday, in the Olympic final.

The Dutch continued their domination of men’s track sprinting as Roy van den Berg, Jeffrey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen crushed hosts France in the team final to win the gold for a fourth straight year. It was the same Dutch trio who ended Britain’s Olympic reign in the event earlier this year in Tokyo. France edged out the Russians to seal their second medal. The other final on the championships’ opening day saw Italy’s Martina Fidanza take gold in the women’s scratch race, with Dutchwoman Maike van der Duin and the USA’s Jennifer Valente completing the podium.

UCI 2021 Track World Championship Day 1 – Roubaix France – Women’s Scratch – Maike van der Duin (NED) – Martina Fidanza (ITA) – Jennifer Valente (USA)

DAY 2

Italy won gold in the men’s team pursuit at the track cycling world championships on Thursday confirming their status as new masters of the discipline after beating France in a tense final. In a cagey 4km struggle over the steep banked walls of the Roubaix velodrome the Olympic champions Italy, led by road race star Filippo Ganna, pounced with just two laps remaining to power clear and win by over two seconds. The triumph is Italy’s first in the event since 1997 and marks a power shift away from Great Britain and Australia, who have long dominated the discipline.

The 25-year-old Ineos rider Ganna led a youthful line up of Liam Bertazzo, Simone Consonni and Jonathan Milan, who were part of a four-man outfit that won gold in Tokyo, with Bertazzo preferred here in the world final to Olympic gold winner Francesco Lamon. The three Olympic title winners were wearing gold helmets, which Olympic champions can do in all relevant races until the next Games. Italy took 3:47.192 seconds to win the title while Great Britain won the bronze medal race against Denmark.

Johnatan Milan – Liam Bertazzo – Filippo Ganna – Simone Consonni (ITA)

UCI 2021 Track World Championship Day 1 – Francesco Lamon – Simone Consonni – Jonathan Milan – Filippo Ganna (ITA)

RBA/AFP Photos: Bettini/SWPix