The men's team pursuit quartet gets off to a strong start in their world championship campaign. After posting the third-fastest qualifying time of 3:47.272, the Italian train composed of Francesco Lamon, Jonathan Milan, Alessio Magagnotti and Filippo Ganna decisively beat Great Britain: 3:45.332 for the Italian quartet against 3:46.967 for the British riders Noah Hobbs, Ethan Vernon, Henry Nobbs and Matthew Bostock.

Tomorrow in the final, the Italians will face Denmark (Carl-Ferderik Bevot, Lasse Leth, Frederik Madsen and Rasmus Pedersen), who won their match against Australia by a wide margin: 3:44.043 for the Danes, with Australia finishing five and a half seconds back and eliminated from the bronze medal race. Great Britain and France will compete for third place.

WOMEN'S TEAM PURSUIT. Elisa Balsamo, Martina Alzini, Martina Fidanza and Vittoria Guazzini posted the third-fastest qualifying time: 4:10.275 for the Italian women who tomorrow will face Germany in the first round, essentially the semifinals, who clocked 4:09.978. The winner advances to compete for the gold medal against the winner of the match between Great Britain (4:08.055) and the Netherlands (4:13.843).

WOMEN'S SCRATCH. As you could read, Lorena Wiebes claimed the world title, edging out Ireland's Gillespie in a photo finish, with bronze going to Portugal's Martins and fourth place for Martina Fidanza.

WOMEN'S TEAM SPRINT. For Italy—competing with the unprecedented lineup featuring captain Miriam Vece, returning Rachele Barbieri and young prospect Matilde Cenci—the result was a sixteenth-place finish in 49.208. The world title went to China's Jang, Tong and Yuan (45.578 their time), who beat the heavily favored Great Britain of Finucane, Parris-Smith and Capewell in the final. Bronze medal for Germany's Friedrich, Grabosch and Schneider ahead of the AIN's Burlakova, Erlanova and Lysenko.

MEN'S TEAM SPRINT. Italy—fielding Matteo Bianchi, Filippo Cusumano and Mattia Predomo—posted a tenth-place time of 43.444, falling about half a second short of the eighth place needed to advance. The world title went once again to the Netherlands with the phenomenal Van den Berg, Lavreysen and Hoogland: with a time of 41.954 they beat Australia's Barber, Elliott and Hoffmann (42.470). Bronze medal for China's Jin, Li and Liu who dominated a Japan team that performed poorly, splitting their trio of Nagasako, Nakaishi and Ota.

For the Netherlands this marks their eighth world title in the last nine years, and for Lavreysen his 21st world title in his career: numbers that place Lavreysen and the Netherlands ever higher in track cycling legend.

RACE TO LOS ANGELES 2028. The Shanghai World Championships represent the first opportunity to earn crucial qualifying points for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The races from the first day have confirmed that Italy now firmly occupies a place among the world's elite in team pursuit, a specialty that is also crucial for securing a spot in the madison. The path for Italy's men's team sprint squad is decidedly more complicated: the tenth-place finish shows that Italy is indeed in constant growth but still remains far from the magnificent eight who will be able to fly to Los Angeles. Pursuing the Olympic objective is not impossible but is certainly very complicated: coach Quaranta and his riders face a year and a half of hard work ahead...