Golden start for Team GB

Great Britain dominated the opening day of the European Track Championships by taking three gold medals in Apeldoorn.

Track stars bag three gold medals

Great Britain dominated the opening day of the European Track Championships by taking three gold medals in Apeldoorn. Dani King, Jo Rowsell and Laura Trott were the first riders to earn themselves top spot on the podium by outclassing Germany in the women's team pursuit final with a time of 3min 22.618sec. Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh and Andy Tennant followed that up in the men's team pursuit by clocking an excellent time of 4min 00.008sec which proved too quick for Denmark. Tennant had been a late addition to the team after Geraint Thomas sacrificed his place in the final citing fatigue after qualifying. Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish then made it three from three by stopping the clock on 33.276sec to edge out fellow finalists Ukraine. Unfortunately, Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Matt Crampton couldn't add to that tally in the men's team sprint though as they had been knocked out in the afternoon session by placing fifth after Kenny had experienced problems with his start gate. Although Great Britain's appeal fell on deaf ears, further problems with the gates resulted in every evening session's event commencing with hand-held starts. Germany ultimately claimed the men's team sprint gold by outpacing France. In the night's other events, Poland's took Rafal Rataiczyk battled back from a fall to take the men's points title with Russian Jarmila Machacova winning the women's equivalent.