The Great Britain Cycling Team kicked off five days of racing in Heusden-Zolder with sprint success as the women’s team sprint won the silver medal and the men won the team sprint bronze medal on day one of the 2025 UEC Track Elite European Championships.

In the endurance events, Anna Morris came fifth in the women’s scratch while Will Perrett took eighth place in the men’s elimination and both team pursuit squads qualified for their first round races tomorrow.

Women’s team sprint

It was a fantastic start to the championships for the young trio of Lauren Bell, Rhian Edmunds and Rhianna Parris-Smith who delivered Great Britain’s first medal of the event, a silver in the women’s team sprint.

The team started the day well as Parris-Smith delivered the fastest opening lap out of all qualifying rides, to help the team to an overall third place finish time of 47.168 behind last year’s winners, Germany. 

In round one, the British trio delivered a time of 46.905, over two and a half seconds faster than rivals Czechia, putting them through to the title ride-off against the Netherlands.

In the race for the European title, Parris-Smith delivered her trademark powerful start to put Great Britain in the lead by 0.3 seconds. Hettie van de Wouw for the Netherlands closed the gap on the second lap, putting the two nations neck and neck with it all to play for. Edmunds worked hard to keep the pace but it wasn’t quite enough for the win as Dutch rider Steffie van der Peet crossed the line first and Great Britain took the silver medal.

Men’s team sprint

The men’s team sprint line-up of Harry Ledingham-Horn, Hayden Norris and Harry Radford delivered three consistent rides to bag themselves a bronze medal on the first day of racing.

Having qualified third fastest in a time of 43.496, Great Britain headed into round one against Poland. Radford hit lap one 0.2 seconds faster than in qualifying, but Poland put the pace down in lap two, making the race neck and neck. Ledingham-Horn put in a big effort in the final lap to keep the Brits ahead and take a marginal victory which sent them into the bronze medal ride off.

Radford was once again quick off the line, creating a gap on five hundredths of a second on Czechia, who quickly pulled it back and took the lead ahead of the final lap. Ledingham-Horn put the pressure on and Czechia were unable to match his power as the lead swung back hugely in favour of Great Britain who took the bronze medal.

Women’s scratch

Anna Morris delivered a calm and collected ride in an incredibly cagey race, just missing out on the sprint to finish in fifth place overall.

In a steady start to the 10km race, riders were strung out across the track taking turns on the front as the field sized each other up, with all eyes on Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) as the clear favourite.

As the race reached the halfway point, the pace remained steady with no riders willing to commit to a move, as Great Britain’s Morris stayed alert and well-positioned to shut down any  potential moves. 

The race stayed muted until 13 laps to go when Melanie Dupin of France made a jump off the front in an attempt to take a lap. Hesitation from the bunch to chase saw Dupin create a lead of a third of a lap, before being swallowed up in the final kilometre as riders positioned themselves for the sprint.

Morris kept her eyes firmly on the competition as Wiebes moved through the bunch with 500m to go before making her move on the outside, with Morris and Italian Martina Fidanza (Italy) on her wheel. Wiebes pushed on for the sprint, neck and neck with Fidanza who held on as Wiebes ran out of gas, leaving Fidanza to take the title in style. Morris was unable to match their sprint and finished a commendable fifth overall.

Men’s elimination 

Will Perrett delivered an impressive ride before a small error cost him his place in the race and he finished eighth overall.

From the start, Perrett managed his efforts in a high-paced race, alternating between riding at the front with contenders Elia Viviani (Italy) and Tim Torn Teutenberg (Germany) before dropping back to conserve energy.

A shock elimination from two-time world champion Viviani in 15th place opened up the field and an unphased Perrett continued to ride confidently at the front.

However, with a smaller group remaining, Perrett dropped into a risky position at the bottom of the track and a lapse in concentration saw him caught off guard and passed by his rivals, putting him out of the competition in eighth place overall.Teutenberg went on to win the men’s elimination title.

Qualifiers

Both team pursuit squads comfortably qualified for tomorrow’s first round, with the men’s squad of Rhys Britton, Josh Charlton and debutants Michael Gill and Noah Hobbs laying down a fantastic time of 3:51.578, putting them second in qualification behind world champions Denmark. They will race against Switzerland in tomorrow’s first round for a chance to get into a medal ride.

The women’s team delivered the third fastest time of 4:18.745, putting them 3.751 seconds behind reigning champions Italy. The British quartet of Maddie Leech, Sophie Lewis, Grace Lister and Anna Morris will go head-to-head with the Italians tomorrow in their first round ride. 

Tomorrow will also see Matt Walls return to the track in the men’s points race, while Neah Evans contests the women’s elimination title. In the sprint events, Harry Radford is up in the 1km time-trial while women’s sprint qualification also takes place for Lauren Bell and Rhian Edmunds.

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