Filippo Ganna and Italy remain team pursuit benchmark at European Championships

Filippo Ganna and Italy powered to victory in the team pursuit at the UEC Track European Championships in Grenchen on Thursday evening, claiming gold ahead of a Great Britain squad that included former Hour Record holder Dan Bigham.

The Olympic champions Italy had posted the quickest time in qualifying and then overcame France in the first round to set up a final against Great Britain. Despite an unsteady changeover around the 3,000 metres mark, Ganna, Manlio Moro, Jonathan Milan and Francesco Lamon posted a time of 3:47.667 to take the title ahead of the British quartet’s 3:48.800.

“We have to refine a few things, because we maybe had a bit of luck with that error, but we still managed to finish well, we showed that we knew how to react to a situation like that,” Ganna said, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Ganna already highlighted his form with second place overall at the Vuelta a San Juan, where he was prominent both in the reduced bunch sprint at Barreal and the pivotal summit finish on the Alto Colorado. The Ineos rider will take no further part in the European Track Championships, as he returns to the road at next week’s Volta ao Algarve to continue his build-up to Paris-Roubaix.

“I’ve done what I had to do,” Ganna said of his winter preparation. “Let’s hope I haven’t hit form too soon ahead of the objectives we’ve given ourselves on the road.”

Dan Bigham preceded Ganna as UCI Hour Record holder and then helped him break that mark in his day job as Ineos Grenadier performance engineer. On Thursday, he was accompanied in the British quartet by Ethan Vernon, Charlie Tanfield and Ollie Wood.

“It’s been really close with the Italians in the past 12 months or so. I work with Ethan and work with Filippo, and see them week in week out on camps or at races, so it’s a nice rivalry building for sure,” said Bigham, who added that the British squad will look for improvement at the World Championships in Glasgow in August.

“Being a home world champs I think we can do something pretty special, and the Paris Olympics draw closer, so with a bit of luck we can hopefully take it down to the wire there and be in contention for the Olympic gold.”

Kopecky chases hat-trick

Simone Consonni lined out in the first two rounds of the team pursuit for Italy, but his focus on Thursday evening was on the points race, where he claimed gold ahead of Albert Torres (Spain) and Donavan Grondin (France).

Like Ganna, the Cofidis rider had already signalled his form on the road with a stage victory at the Saudi Tour. “Fortunately, this winter, I had no setbacks in my preparation and I’ve shown that the form is there,” he said.

The women’s team pursuit, meanwhile, saw a reverse of the men’s result, with the British quartet of Katie Archibald, Neah Evans, Josie Knight and Anna Morris claiming an emphatic victory over their Italian counterparts.

Great Britain clocked a time of 4:13.890 to the 4:16.018 of Elisa Balsamo, Martina Alzini, Martina Fidanza and Vittoria Guazzini to claim gold, while Germany beat France to the bronze medal.

“This is the first event that counts towards Olympic qualification and to come out on top is huge,” Knight said. “We’ve come second a lot – I’ve been in a lot of major finals and come second, so in those last few laps I was saying please come on, I just want to win something.”

In the women’s elimination race, Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) defended her title by beating Valentine Fortin (France) to take gold, while Maike van der Duin (Netherlands) pipped Elinor Barker (Great Britain) to bronze. Kopecky will also line out in the Madison and the Omnium as she seeks a hat-trick of titles in Grenchen.

“I dare to dream of that, but everything has to go well, starting with a good scratch race tomorrow in the Omnium,” Kopecky told Sporza.

Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) was a dominant winner in the men’s kilometre, posting a time of 58.203, with Alejandro Martinez (Spain) taking silver ahead of Maximilian Dornbach (Germany).