Great Britain pursuit teams qualify fastest at European championships
Wednesday 14 October 2015 21:39, UK
Great Britain made the perfect start to the European Track Championships in Grenchen, Switzerland, as both the men's and women's pursuit teams eased through qualifying in top spot.
Sir Bradley Wiggins, Steven Burke, Owain Doull and Andy Tennant breezed to the top of the men's time sheets in 3min 57.277sec and will face Russia in their first-round heat.
Defending champions Great Britain led Switzerland by 0.3sec after the opening 1km, had stretched that advantage to to 0.572sec at the halfway mark and eventually stopped the clock nearly two seconds clear. France were third quickest.
Earlier, the women's team had turned in a dominant performance in qualifying quickest by more than nine seconds.
Laura Trott, Ciara Horne, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell-Shand were three seconds up on Russia at the midway point and a stunning final 2km enabled them to stop the clock in a time of 4min 21.089sec.
Horne told britishcycling.org,uk: "It was a really good, solid team effort, really chuffed. We were trying a new strategy and it worked really well so we're happy with that."
Horne and her colleagues will face Poland in the opening round.
