European Championships: British cyclists win team sprint silver

Great Britain’s women’s and men’s track and field teams took silver at the opening Sunday of the UEC Track Elite European Championships in Türkiye.

The women’s team of Lauren Bell, Rihanna Paris Smith and Lori Thomas looked strong in the qualifiers and easily beat the Czech Republic in the first round.

Olympic champion Sophie Capewell came on for Bell in the final against Germany and although the British trio led after two of the three laps in Konya, they overhauled late on.

The Germans clocked 45.710 seconds, 0.003 seconds ahead of the British trio.

Harry Radford, Joe Trueman and Matt Richardson led Great Britain’s men to first place in qualifying and a comprehensive first round win over Belgium.

Olympic silver medalist Hamish Turnbull replaced Radford in the final against France and despite a powerful shot from Richardson to close the gap, the French crossed the line by 0.006 seconds.

Elsewhere, the women’s pursuit quartet of Josie Knight, Anna Morris, Kate Richardson and Millie Cousins ​​finished third in the heats while the men’s team of Oliver Wood, Matthew Bostock, Henry Hobbs and Ben Wiggins finished second with both teams competing again on Monday.