UCI Track World Cup Glasgow - Day 2: Great Britain sweeps team pursuit

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Great Britain fielded a young squad for the first round of the UCI Track World Cup in Glasgow but continued the domination of their older and more experienced teammates by winning both the men’s and women’s team pursuit events on Friday evening.

The female quartet had an average age of just 19 but Emily Kay, Emily Nelson, Ellie Dickinson and Manon Lloyd set a time of 4:25.809 to beat the Italian quartet of Simone Frapporti, Elisa Balsamo, Francesca Pattaro and Maria Giulia by two seconds. France won the ride for the bronze medal, beating Poland.

It was the first time any of the British riders had won a gold medal at elite World Cup level but they continued to show the form that gave them a bronze medal at the recent European Track Cycling Championships in Paris.

The quintet qualified second fastest on Thursday, then disposed of Poland in the second round before taking on the Italians, the fastest qualifiers and the European champions, in the final. The Italians started fast and were always ahead but never by more than half a second. Lloyd produced a lap and three-quarter starting effort to get the team up to speed and eventually paid the price and lost contact with four laps to go. At the same time Italy’s Simone Frapporti swung up for one last time, leaving both teams with the minimum three counters going into the final kilometre.

Maria-Giulia Confalioneri dropped off the back of the Italian trio with two laps remaining, as Great Britain stayed united. Confalioneri was several lengths behind her teammates, while the young Britons, inspired by the crowd, finished together to win the gold medal.

“Every team works incredibly hard, but to have the crowd here every time you go down the straight, to hear them shout really gives you that extra bit of energy that you didn’t know you had and we can’t thank them enough for cheering us all the way through,” Kay said of the support of the Glasgow crowd when speaking to British Cycling.

British men beat France for gold

Andy Tennant anchored the young men’s team pursuit quartet with former kilo rider Kian Emadi, Mark Stewart and Ollie Wood –who replaced Matt Bostock after the afternoon ride.

Great Britain was up against the recently crowned European champions France, which included the Tour de France veteran Sylvain Chavanel along with the promising Corentin Ermenault, who has been linked with Sir Bradley Wiggins' eponymous team for next season. However, Great Britain were in control from the very first lap and never relinquished their lead, setting an impressive time of 3.58.891, finishing a second faster than France.

The Canadian team of Adam Jamieson, Aidan Caves, Jay Lamoureux and Bayley Simpson won the bronze medal, beating Switzerland in their final.  

"It’s not often you actually get to race on home soil so to do it with your friends and family in the stands watching, it’s really nice to kind of deliver and win,” Mark Stewart said.

In the other finals of the day, Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania won the women’s Keirin, while Kamil Kuczynski of Poland beat Pavel Yakushevskiy of Russia to win the men’s sprint title after three intense rides in the final.

The racing continues on Saturday with the men and women’s individual pursuit, the men’s scratch race and other qualifying events for Sunday’s final day of racing.