Filippo Ganna and Italy won gold in the team pursuit at the UEC Track European Championships in Grenchen on Thursday evening, edging out a British team that included former Hour record holder Dan Bigam.

The Olympic champion Italians set the fastest time in qualifying and held off France in the first round to reach the final against Great Britain, and despite a shaky switch at the 3,000 meter mark, Ganna, Manlio Moro, Jonathan Milano, and Francesco Ramon recorded 3:47.667 to take the title ahead of the British quartet's 3:48.800.

"That mistake could have been luck, but we still managed to finish well.

Ganna has already shown his strong form by finishing second overall at the Vuelta a San Juan. He was also active in the group sprint at Valreal and in the important summit finish at Alto Colorado. He will return to the road next week at Volta ao Algarve to continue his preparations for Paris-Roubaix.

"We did what we had to do," Gana said of his winter preparations. Let's hope we're not getting too good too soon before the goals we set for ourselves on the road."

Dan Bigum became the UCI Hour Record holder ahead of Ganna and helped him break the record in his day job as Ineos Grenadier Performance Engineer. On Thursday he was joined by Ethan Vernon, Charlie Tanfield, and Ollie Wood as the British quartet.

"I've really gotten to know the Italians over the last year or so. I work with Ethan and Filippo and we see each other every week at training camps and races, so there's definitely a good rivalry going on," said Bigham, who added that the British team will try to improve at the World Championships in Glasgow in August.

"I think we can do something special with it being our home World Championships, and with the Paris Olympics coming up, with any luck we will be able to win there and join the Olympic gold medal contenders."

Simone Consonni represented Italy in the first two rounds of the Team Pursuit, but on Thursday night his attention turned to the points race, where he won gold ahead of Alberto Torres (Spain) and Donavan Grondin (France).

Like Ganna, the Cofidis rider had already shown his strong road form with a stage win in the Tour of Saudi Arabia. He said, "Fortunately, I haven't had any setbacks in my preparation this winter, and I've proven that I have form."

Meanwhile, in the women's team pursuit, the British quartet of Katie Archibald, Nia Evans, Josie Knight, and Anna Morris dominated the Italian competitors.

Great Britain won the gold medal with a time of 4:13.890 to Elisa Balsamo, Martina Algini, Martina Fidanza, and Vittoria Guazzini's 4:16.018.

"This was my first meet to qualify for the Olympics, and to come out on top is huge," Knight said.

"I've been second so many times, and I've been second so many times in the finals of major competitions, that for the last few laps I was saying, for God's sake, win this thing.

In the women's elimination race, Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) beat Valentine Fortin (France) for the gold medal, while Myke van der Duyn (Netherlands) won bronze over Elinor Barker (Great Britain). Kopecky also competed in Madison and the Omnium, and will be looking for a hat trick in Grenchen.

"I dare to dream about it, but everything has to go right, including the scratch race in the omnium tomorrow," Kopecký told Sporza (opens in new tab).

Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) won the men's kilo with a dominant time of 58. 203, Alejandro Martinez (Spain) won the silver medal ahead of Maximilian Dornbach (Germany).