By Martyn Herman
GLASGOW (Reuters) – Denmark reclaimed their world title in men’s team pursuit as they defeated Olympic champions Italy in the final at the UCI World Championships in Glasgow on Saturday.
In a repeat of the gold-medal battle at the Tokyo Games in 2021 which Italy won in a world record time, Denmark exacted revenge as they reeled in the Azzuri to win comfortably.
The Danish quartet of Lasse Leth, Niklas Larsen, Rasmus Pedersen, Carl-Frederik Bevort trailed narrowly for the first half of the 16 laps around the Chris Hoy Velodrome.
But a massive acceleration took them ahead and unlike in Tokyo, when Filippo Ganna powered Italy to gold in thrilling fashion, Italy could find no storming finish.
Denmark also won the title in 2020 and were favourites going into the Olympics.
New Zealand thrashed Australia to win the bronze.
In the women’s team pursuit final later, Britain take on New Zealand.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
