Team pursuits: the French in bronze, the French at the foot of the podium

Opposite fortunes for the French team pursuit teams at the European Track Championships held in Granges, Switzerland, compared to the last World Championships. Eliminated in the first round at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines last fall, the French pursuers (Benjamin Thomas, Quentin Lafargue, Thomas Denis, Corentin Ermenault) returned to the podium on Thursday evening, taking third place against the Danish (Carl-Frederik Bevort, Niklas Larsen, Rasmus Pedersen, Theodor Storm), in 3’49”837.

Well launched by Lafargue in the first kilometer, who then quickly got up, the French team then resisted the return of the Scandinavians and a big relay from Thomas in the last kilometer, in particular, allowed him to snatch the bronze . This is the fourth French medal in these European Championships.

Italians in gold

Bronze medalists at the 2022 Worlds, the French (Victoire Berteau, Marion Borras, Clara Copponi, Valentine Fortin) failed in the small final against the Germans (Franziska Brausse, Lisa Klein, Mieke Kröger, Laura Süssemilch), double reigning European champions and world champions in 2021. Les Bleues were still in the lead after two of the four kilometers, well propelled by a strong stint from Borras, but they then bent their wings and finished in a lower time (4’15”557 against 4’14”402 for the Germans) than that achieved in the morning in qualifying .

The two gold finals were between Italy and Great Britain, two remakes of the last two world finals. Among the men, the Transalpines (Filippo Ganna, Jonathan Milan, Simone Consonni, Manlio Moro) took their revenge on the British (Daniel Bigham, Ethan Vernon, Charlie Tanfield, Oliver Wood), deprived of Ethan Hayter, injured on the road ( fracture of a collarbone), with more than a second in advance (3’47”667 against 3’48”800). In women, the opposite result, since the British (Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Neah Evans, Josie Knight) dominated the Italian world champions (Elisa Balsamo, Martina Alzini, Martina Fidanza, Vittoria Guazzini), in 4’13” 890.