Great Britain stormed to junior women’s team pursuit victory to earn a first gold medal at the UEC Junior and Under-23 European Track Championships in Portugal.

Manon Lloyd, Emily Nelson, Grace Garner and Megan Barker overcame Poland in the gold-medal final by over seven seconds on the second day of competition in Anadia.

The foursome’s time of 4:39.707 was nearly three seconds faster than their effort in qualifying, where they went quickest in 4:42.625.

“Top step of the podium for us @BritishCycling junior girls, European champions! So happy!” tweeted 17-year-old Lloyd.

Katy Marchant and Rosie Blount added bronze in the under-23 women’s team sprint, also facing Poland in their medal ride.

A time of 34.604 seconds was too quick for Urszula Los and Katarzyna Kirchenstein, who completed their two laps in 35.313.

Matt Gibson nearly added a further bronze in the junior men’s individual pursuit but was denied by Daniel Staniszewski.

Gibson had qualified third-fastest ahead of the Polish rider in 3:22.382, but Staniszewski fought back in the medal ride to win in 3:23.5710 with Gibson unable to reproduce his earlier effort.

Emily Kay was 10th in the under-23 women’s individual pursuit as she continues to her step up into the senior ranks. The 18-year-old negotiated three-kilometres in 3:49.740, Germany’s Mieke Kroger eventually winning in 3:40.502.

Joseph Truman gained more international competition experience in the junior men’s kilo, finishing ninth in 1:05.952. The Czech Republic’s Jiri Janoser took gold in 1:03.330.

The Great Britain Cycling Team now have three medals - gold, silver and bronze. The six-day competition continues on Thursday.

Results

Men’s junior kilo
Women’s under-23 team sprint
Men’s under-23 team sprint
Women’s junior team pursuit
Men’s junior individual pursuit
Women’s under-23 individual pursuit
Men’s under-23 team pursuit
Women’s junior sprint