An afternoon full of speed to start the third day of races at the European Championship: at the Heusden-Zolder velodrome, the champions of speed have taken the stage.

Matteo Predomo recorded the fifteenth time in the flying 200 meters, Stefano Moro the twenty-first. In the round of 16, Moro was defeated in a direct clash with Polish rider Sarnecki, while Predomo beat the renowned German Dornbach by two thousandths of a second in a photo finish. Unfortunately, in the eighth finals, the twenty-year-old from Bolzano faced the worst possible opponent, the phenomenal Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen, and was forced to surrender.

Advancing to the quarter-finals, besides Lavreysen, are the Israeli Yakovlev, the Pole Rudyk, the French Helal and Vigier, the British Ledingham-Horn, the other Dutchman Van Loon, and the Czech Tamme.

MEN'S PURSUIT. In the wake of Ganna and Milan, the young Italian pursuers are making a great impression. Renato Favero, born in 2005, clocks in at 4:08.862 and records the fourth-best time, earning him a spot in the bronze medal final where he will challenge the British rider Michael Gill (4:06.915). To understand the significance of Favero's result, one only needs to see that behind him is Danish rider Norman Lasse Leth, the fresh European champion of the team pursuit.

Another good performance comes from the other young Italian, also born in 2005, Etienne Grimod: he recorded the sixth-best overall time with 4:09.838.

The European title will be contested between the British rider Josh Charlton, who pedaled in 3:59.997 and threatens the world record that Jonathan Milan snatched from him, and the Portuguese Ivo Oliveira, who recorded a time of 4:04.475.

WOMEN'S OMNIUM. Chiara Consonni began her adventure with a sixth place in the scratch race, won by the world champion, Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes. The tempo race was won by Norwegian Stenberg, with Chiara Consonni in seventh place. The Italian rider occupies seventh position after two events with 54 points, 20 points behind the leader Stenberg but just 4 points away from the bronze currently worn by Portuguese rider Campos.