Winning ugly - Why the team pursuit is the most exciting thing in cycling right now

The European Championships showed why the future of the blue riband track discipline is in rude health

Filippo Ganna leads the Italian team pursuit squad
(Image credit: Alex Whitehead / SWpix.com)

If you’re not a fan of the team pursuit, you think it’s too clinical, too calculating, too true to the form book then you need to watch last night’s European Track Championships finals.

Not only is this track meet the starting point for the Paris Olympic cycle (it’s the first place to pick up points for nations to qualify) but it provided a thrilling first chapter in what could well be the defining rivalry of the cycle - Italy v. Great Britain.

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Having trained as a journalist at Cardiff University I spent eight years working as a business journalist covering everything from social care, to construction to the legal profession and riding my bike at the weekends and evenings. When a friend told me Cycling Weekly was looking for a news editor, I didn't give myself much chance of landing the role, but I did and joined the publication in 2016. Since then I've covered Tours de France, World Championships, hour records, spring classics and races in the Middle East. On top of that, since becoming features editor in 2017 I've also been lucky enough to get myself sent to ride my bike for magazine pieces in Portugal and across the UK. They've all been fun but I have an enduring passion for covering the national track championships. It might not be the most glamorous but it's got a real community feeling to it.