Great Britain win two sprint silvers on opening day of European Track Cycling Championships after start gate drama

Great Britain won two silver medals on the opening day of the European Track Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland.

Both of GB’s medals came in the team sprint as Lauren Bell, Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant finished second to an impressive Germany team made up of Pauline Grabosch, Emma Hinze and Lea Friedrich in the women’s event.

Despite a mishap on the first start, which happened in both of the medal ride-offs, the Germans powered away to win by 0.774 seconds, with Friedrich making the difference on the final lap.

A dramatic bronze medal ride-off saw France dramatically lose out to the Netherlands following problems for Taky Marie-Divine Kouame out of the start gate, as she appeared to get a lot of wheelspin.

It was a similar story for GB’s men, with Alistair Fielding, Hamish Turnbull and Jack Carlin unable to match the strong Dutch trio of Harrie Lavreysen, Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg.

A great first lap from Fielding saw GB lead by three tenths after lap one, but they were reeled in by the Netherlands who won by 1.240 seconds.

Third place went to France as they comfortably beat Germany following further start gate troubles.

Elsewhere, Tim Torn Teutenberg won his first European title with a great performance in the men’s scratch race.

He got the better of Portugal’s Rui Oliveira in the final sprint, as Philip Heijnen from the Netherlands took bronze. Italy’s Elia Viviani was fifth, with Britain’s Fred Wright coming home in 14th.

In the women’s scratch race, Portugal’s Maria Martins and Spain’s Eukene Larrarte broke away from the bunch with 10 laps to go and couldn’t be caught.

Martins had more left in her legs and cruised to victory from Larrarte, as Poland’s Daria Pikulik took bronze.

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