Ganna and Bigham poised for team pursuit clash at European Championships

Filippo Ganna led Italy’s quartet to the quickest time in team pursuit qualifying at the European Championships in Grenchen, where Great Britain and previous Hour Record holder Dan Bigham look set to provide the stiffest opposition to the Olympic champions in Thursday’s final rounds.

Ganna, Simone Consonni, Francesco Lamon and Jonathan Milan led the way with a time of 3:49.582, just under a second faster than the British squad of Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon and Ollie Wood. The azzurri will face France in Thursday afternoon’s first round, while Great Britain take on Denmark, with the final scheduled for Thursday evening.

“It all went well,” Ganna said, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. “The British are close, but we’re confident. The lads want to show we’re ready and we’ll do it.”

An Italy-Great Britain final would offer a contest between Ganna and Ineos Grenadiers performance engineer Bigham on the very track where they each broke the UCI Hour Record last year.

After setting a new Hour Record last August, Bigham then found himself in the position of helping Ganna to surpass his mark weeks later. 

"For me, it's win-win," Bigham told Cyclingnews on the eve of Ganna's attempt. "The process has always been about Filippo trying to break the record. For me, it was a case of having a go at the record in that process as well."

Ganna showcased his current form with second place overall at the Vuelta a San Juan last month, though he will not take part in the individual pursuit in Grenchen as he instead turns his attention towards preparing for next week’s Volta ao Algarve.

In the women’s team pursuit qualifying, meanwhile, Great Britain’s time of 4:11.594 was some 2.633 seconds clear of Italy. The British quartet of Katie Archibald, Neah Evans, Josie Knight and Anna Morris will face Germany in Thursday’s first round, with Italy paired against France.

The opening night of the European Track Championships also saw four titles awarded. Germany claimed gold in the women’s team sprint ahead of Great Britain and the Netherlands, while Maria Martins (Portugal) won the women’s scratch race ahead of Eukene Larrarte (Spain) and Daria Pikulik (Poland).

In the men’s team sprint, the Netherlands emerged victorious ahead of Great Britain, while the French trio took bronze. Tim Torn Teutenberg (Germany) beat Rui Oliveira (Portugal) to gold in the men’s elimination race, with Philip Heijnen (Netherlands) in third.

World champion Elia Viviani (Italy) had to settle for fifth, but the Ineos rider will look to compensate in the Madison and Omnium at the weekend.

“I had the sensation that something was missing,” Viviani told La Gazzetta. “I used the same gearing as at the Worlds, but I was missing the change of rhythm and I suffered.

“Let’s hope it was just a case of breaking the ice in the first race ahead of the weekend with the Omnium and the Madison.”