It was raining medals in the velodrome for Great Britain as Josh Charlton delivered the first gold in the men’s individual pursuit, in sensational style.

He was joined on the podium by Michael Gill who took the bronze, while Will Tidball also took bronze in the men’s scratch race. Silver medals for Maddie Leech in the omnium and Rhian Edmunds in the sprint rounded out a dramatic evening of racing.

Men’s individual pursuit 

Great Britain delivered a two for two in the men’s individual pursuit with Josh Charlton delivering a brace of stunning rides to take his first elite European title, while Michael Gill took his first elite medal, with a bronze.

The morning’s qualifiers saw debutant Michael Gill set a brilliant third-fastest time of 4:06.915 to qualify for the bronze medal ride off. World silver medallist Josh Charlton flew round the track to clock a time of 3:59.997 which secured his gold medal ride against Ivo Manuel Alves Oliveira (Portugal).

In Gill’s final, he was undeterred by an early lead for Italy’s Renato Fevaro and pushed the pace to take the advantage himself and open up a half-second gap within the first kilometre. Meeting fire with fire, Fevaro pushed back to reduce the gap and commence a back and forth of the tiniest margins between the two riders. Gill maintained composure and his steadiness allowed him to take advantage of Fevaro’s fatigue, taking the lead then increasing the gap in the final 500m to clinch his first elite international bronze medal.

Charlton's race was his to win as his early lead of 0.3 seconds only extended during the first half of the race. Portugal’s Oliveira gave some friction, holding the gap. Charlton upped the pace with a kilometre to go and by the final two laps his lead was over a second, with no signs of pushback from Oliveira. Charlton held on to storm to his first elite European title.

Women’s omnium

Maddie Leech raced an incredible omnium, heading into the final race in the lead before a dramatic crash with two laps to go saw her claim the silver medal.

Leech started the day with a well-delivered ride in the scratch race. Staying well-positioned and ready to chase any moves, Leech followed the sprint with three laps to go and crossed the finish line third, behind Lorena Wiebes (The Netherlands) and Olga Wankiewicz (Poland).

Having secured four points in the tempo race early on, Leech’s racing showed maturity and patience. This set her up to be able to follow a wheel late in the day, joining a large group of 11 as they lapped the field, giving her an additional 20 points for a fifth-place finish, putting her second overall. 

Riding with composure throughout the elimination race, Leech positioned herself well, kept pace and never found herself at risk of elimination.

Making her way through to the pointy end of the race, Leech found herself head-to-head with Wiebes for the win. The Brit launched the sprint, before backing off to conserve energy and bag 36 points to put her in first place on 106.

Starting with a 10 point lead, it was all to play for as Leech worked hard to stay well-positioned and maintain her lead in a full-throttle points race. 

Plenty of attacks throughout saw a large breakaway group from the bunch, posing a risk to the lead group as they stayed ahead slowing clocking up points. With the podium too far out of reach for the breakaway riders, Leech stayed safe within the group to maintain her lead.

Within the final 10 laps, Leech got herself into a breakaway including Lara Gillespie (Ireland), Wiebes, Yvonne Stenberg (Norway) and Consonni (Italy), picking up all important sprint points and keeping any contenders at bay.

With just two laps to go, disaster struck and a knocking of elbows between Gillespie and Leech saw Leech down unable to join the race to contend the final sprint. Wiebes took the final sprint points, putting her neck and neck with Leech on the leaderboard before finally being crowned winner, with a composed Leech taking a fantastic silver medal. 

Women’s sprint  

There was more dramatic racing in the women’s sprint after a five-race evening, Rhian Edmunds finally took her first elite international medal, a silver. 

Facing Italy’s Miriam Vece in the semi-final, Edmunds took the first win after using the track height to build up speed to get her over the line. Edmunds took charge early on in race two, pushing the pace hard in a neck-and-neck race with saw her just clinch the win in a photo finish and head into her first elite individual final.

In the first race of the final, Yana Burlakova (AIN) made an early move with three laps to go, leaving Edmunds with a huge gap to make up. Over the two laps, Edmunds put the power down and didn’t panic, delivering the win in sensational style, putting her one nil up.

Drama came in the second race as the riders were called out by commissaires for a lengthly track stand, resulting in a rematch. Moving early in the rematch, Edmunds used the track to her advantage, sailing underneath Burlokova and managed to hold her off until the final metres before she evened the score.

In the final race, the tension in the velodrome was palpable as an evening of fiery racing came to a close. Edmunds put the pressure on, going long to create a large gap but Burlokova put her head down and managed to breach the gap, storming up behind Edmunds over the finish line to call for another photo finish. With just one pixel separating the wheels, Burlokova was releveled as the European champion, with Edmunds taking the silver medal.

Men’s scratch race 

Will Tidball made a late move in a fast-paced race, that paid off to secure him a scratch race bronze medal.

The race saw another dominant performance from Portugal’s Iuri Leitao who made his attack early on, to be joined by Tim Wafler (Austria), Turr Dens (Belgium) and Luca Menanteau (France) managing to hold off the group for the first half of the race.

The second half saw Tobias Hansen (Denmark) and Alvaro Marchal (Spain) bridge over to create a group of six, quickly followed by Tidball for Great Britain. With the gap between the lead group and the bunch shortening, Leitao responded almost immediately to go on a hard solo attack.

He was chased by solo riders Vincent Hoppezak (Netherlands) and Tidball, with Hoppezak catching him as they joined the back of the bunch with just one and a half laps to go. Tidball was running out of time, working hard to join the bunch with a chaser behind him. Delivering one final push, he managed to hold off the pursuer and held position to take an impressive bronze medal.

Qualifiers

Men's sprint 

Harry Ledingham-Horn qualified fifth with a flying 200m PB time of 9.698 second, while Hayden Norris’s 9.892 put him 13th, as they both made good impressions in the men’s sprint. Norris was edged out by France’s Rayan Helal, while Ledingham-Horn continued onto the quarter-finals.

Ledingham-Horn went on to face Helal, showing incredible focus in a cagey race. Halal launched his sprint and Ledingham-Horn reacted well, but Halal had taken too much ground and took the opener. The second race stared with more pace and it was Ledingham-Horn who made the move but Halal’s acceleration saw him quickly surpassed and not seeing a way through, Ledingham-Horn accepted defeat as his well-fought competition came to an end.

Tomorrow’s schedule will see Neah Evans and Iona Moir compete in the first ever 1km women’s time-trial. Noah Hobbs takes on the men’s omnium, Grace Lister will compete in the women’s points race and the women’s individual pursuit will see Anna Morris and Sophie Lewis contest the title.

You can follow highlights on Instagram @GBCyclingTeam and watch the evening session on Discovery+ from 5:30pm.