UEC European Track Championships – Men's team pursuit
The Men's team pursuit at the European Track Championships was first competed in 2010 in Poland. It has formed a part of each championship since. Great Britain, the double Olympic champions, have dominated the event, winning on four of the five occasions.
Ed Clancy and Andy Tennant have been ever present in each success of the British team, and as a result are the most successful individuals in the event, with four gold medals each. Alexander Serov of Russia, with one gold, two silver and a bronze medal, is the most successful rider from outside Great Britain in the event.
Format
Until 2014, the team pursuit consisted of two rounds; a qualifying round, followed by a final for the fastest two qualifiers, and the race for the bronze medal for the third and fourth fastest qualifiers. In 2014, a third intermediate round was added: two semifinals consisting of the top four qualifiers to decide the gold medal finalists, and two bronze medal raceoffs for teams placed fifth to eighth which, together with the times of the losing semifinalists, decided the bronze medal finalists.
In that first amended event in 2014, France failed to make the semifinals, but having reached the bronze medal raceoffs as the sixth placed team, raced a quicker time than Switzerland, one of the losing semifinalists, to reach the Bronze medal final; they lost the Bronze medal final to the other losing semifinalist, Russia.
