The penultimate day of the Track World Championships in Shanghai closed without medals for the Italian national team, but there were no shortage of encouraging signs and valuable performances from the Azzurri. Martina Alzini came close to the podium, finishing fourth in the individual pursuit after being overtaken in the bronze medal final by Germany's Lisa Klein. Fifth place went to Simone Consonni in the Omnium: the rider from Bergamo delivered a generous and combative performance, fighting until the very end to break into the medal positions. A good result also came in the women's Madison, where the pairing of Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini finished sixth, confirming competitiveness and solidity in one of the most spectacular events on the world championship program.

MEN'S OMNIUM
Simone Consonni's world championship campaign fell just short of the podium, though he delivered a courageous and generous performance that concluded in fifth place. The Italian fought until the very end to reopen the battle for medals, even managing to gain a lap on the field, but the competition proved particularly fierce and left him no room to break back into the medal positions. The rainbow jersey was claimed by Portugal's Iuri Leitao, who delivered a flawless performance that earned him the world title with full merit. Behind him came Belgium's Fabio Van Den Bossche with the silver medal, while the bronze went to Germany's Tim Torn Teutenberg.

WOMEN'S PURSUIT
A bitter finale for Martina Alzini, who saw the podium slip away and had to settle for fourth place. The Italian was beaten in the bronze medal showdown by Germany's Lisa Klein, who appeared superior from the opening stages of the race. Over the 4,000 meters, the German athlete imposed an unsustainable pace for Alzini, stopping the clock at 4'28"274. The Italian fought with determination nonetheless, finishing in 4'32"749, but was unable to close the gap on her rival. For Martina Alzini it remains a high-level performance and a world final that came down to the wire, though the failure to secure a medal inevitably leaves some bitterness. In the final for the rainbow jersey, it was British dominance. The title was claimed by Millie Couzens, who stopped the clock at 4'21"505, edging out her compatriot Josie Knight by just half a second, who took silver in 4'22"002.

WOMEN'S 500M TIME TRIAL. Miriam Vece missed out on the final: her time of 1.07.316 gave her eleventh place, just under two tenths of a second from qualification. The title went to Germany's Pauline Grabosch ahead of the Dutch pair Hetty Van de Wouw and Sofie Van Rooijen.

WOMEN'S MADISON. Vittoria Guazzini and Chiara Consonni stopped at sixth place with 15 points and a missed opportunity in the final laps to claim the bronze medal. Gold and the world title went to the British pair Erin Boothman and Anna Morris, silver to France's Clara Copponi and Marion Bossa - the British and French were the only two teams able to gain a lap - and bronze to Japan's Tsuyaka Uchino and Maho Kakita.

MEN'S SPRINT. Mattia Predomo advanced from qualifying with the thirteenth fastest time and in the round of 16 defeated Trinidad and Tobago's Nijsane Phillip. In the round of 32, the Italian was defeated in an extremely tight sprint (28 thousandths of a second between the two) by experienced Polish rider Mateusz Rudyk. The semifinals, which will take place tomorrow, saw the advancement of Harry Lavreysen (Ned), Kaiya Ota (Jpn), Leigh Hofman (Aus) and Nicholas Paul (Tto).