Filippo Ganna led the Italian quartet with the fastest time in the Team Pursuit qualifier for the European Championships in Grenchen.

Ganna, Simone Consonni, Francesco Ramon, and Jonathan Milano clocked 3:49.582, just under a second faster than the British team of Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon, and Olly Wood. The Azzurri will face France in the first round on Thursday afternoon, while Great Britain will face Denmark, with the final scheduled for Thursday night.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (opens in new tab), "Everything went well. 'The English are close, but we are confident. The lads want to show they are ready and they will."

In the Italy vs. Great Britain final, Ganna and Ineos Grenadiers performance engineer Bigum will compete on the very course where they each set UCI Hour records last year.

After breaking the hour record last August, Bigam was in position to help Ganna break the record a few weeks later.

"It's a win-win for me," Bigam told Cycling News on the eve of Ganna's challenge. 'Filippo was always trying to break records. For me, it was a challenge to the record in the process."

"I was very happy to be there," he said.

Ganna, who finished second overall at last month's Vuelta a San Juan to showcase his current form, will not participate in the individual pursuit in Grenchen as he focuses on preparing for the Volta ao Algarve next week.

Meanwhile, in the women's team pursuit qualifying round, Great Britain finished 2.633 seconds ahead of Italy in 4:11.594. The British foursome of Katie Archibald, Nair Evans, Josie Knight, and Anna Morris will face Germany in the first round on Thursday, while Italy will face France.

Four titles were also awarded on opening night of the European Track Championships. Germany won gold in the women's team sprint ahead of Great Britain and the Netherlands, while Maria Martins (Portugal) won the women's scratch race ahead of Eukene Lararte (Spain) and Daria Pikulik (Poland).

In the men's team sprint, the Netherlands won ahead of Great Britain, with the French trio taking bronze. In the men's elimination race, Tim Thon Twittenberg (Germany) beat Rui Oliveira (Portugal) to win gold, with Philipp Heinen (Netherlands) in third place.

World champion Elia Viviani (Italy) had to settle for fifth place, but the Ineos riders will look to make up for it in the Madison and Omnium this weekend.

"I had the feeling that something was missing," Viviani told La Gazzetta. 'I rode in the same gear as I did at the World Championships, but I suffered from a lack of rhythm change.'

"Let's hope I broke the ice in the first race before the Omnium and Madison weekend.