Track Euros Report Day 5

Great Britain’s Rhian Edmunds showcased some fantastic Keirin racing in today’s final day of competition, taking her third silver of the event, and top 10s for GB riders in both Madison finals

TRACK EUROS REPORT: SILVER SUCCESS FOR EDMUNDS ON FINAL DAY
GB Team Press Release: Great Britain’s Rhian Edmunds showcased some fantastic Keirin racing in today’s final day of competition, taking her third silver of the event while teammate Lauren Bell also made the final, finishing sixth overall.

Elsewhere, Will Perrett and Matt Walls finished fifth in the men’s Madison while Neah Evans and Maddie Leech took sixth place in the women’s Madison event. In the men’s keirin, Lyall Craig and Harry Ledingham-Horn were knocked out in the first-round repechage.

Over the five days of racing, the Great Britain Cycling Team won two gold, five silver and four bronze medals, putting them third on the medal table for the 2025 UEC Track Elite European Championships.

WOMEN’S KEIRIN

Britain’s Rhian Edmunds won a sensational silver medal in the Women’s Keirin, while teammate Lauren Bell finished sixth after some incredible keirin racing from the young Brits. Having both won their first-round heats, Edmunds drew third position in her stacked second round heat. Spotting her opportunity early, she snuck through a gap to get in line with leader Miriam Vece (Italy) taking second place to secure her spot in the final.

Bell delivered an impressive comeback in her heat, initially being stuck behind a wall of riders in fourth place. Committing, she worked her way over the top and delivered fantastic acceleration to finish second behind Alina Lysenko (AIN) to join her teammate in the final.

With Edmunds in position one and Bell in three, a cagey start saw Edmunds able to create a gap ahead of the bunch while Bell battled behind to make her way into contention. Edmunds held the pace as Steffie van der Peet and Hetty van de Wouw (Netherlands) put the power down to catch her. A lunge to the finish saw van der Peet pip Edmunds by nine thousandths of a second, for Edmunds to take her third silver medal of her first senior championships. Having been boxed in by Alina Lysenko, Bell finished sixth in the event overall.

MEN’S MADISON
Will Perrett and Matt Walls showed fantastic teamwork, putting themselves in the right moves and launching attacks in an energised men’s Madison race, finishing fifth overall with 74 points. The first few sprints of the race saw Great Britain clock up some helpful early points, while the points were spread between nations, before the attacks began.

Within the first forty laps Germany, Denmark and Portugal managed to take a lap as the bunch split considerably. Perrett for Great Britain took advantage of this and launched an attack off the front. With Portugal on his wheel, the teams worked together to take a lap, mopping up sprint points on the way before moving up the leader-board, Great Britain in fifth.

As the race moved into its second half, the top four nations; Portugal, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands attacked off the front, with Great Britain and France bridging over to catch them. The Netherlands made a solo break, joining the body of the race before powering through it for a second lap attempt. The remaining nations followed to also take a lap, giving Great Britain a positive points boost, but keeping them in fifth place, now seven points off the podium.

With 55 laps to go, Perrett made an attack off the front with Belgium and Portugal hot on his heels, before being pulled back into the bunch as Portugal pulled clear and the race settled back in. Walls attacked again with 15 laps to go, in pursuit of a much-needed 20-point boost heading into a crucial penultimate sprint, now sitting 24 points off the podium. The Dutch rider jumped onto Walls’ wheel as he took the five sprint points before both nations joined the back of the field; this would cement a Dutch win and boost GB into fourth place, with one point to the podium.

This was immediately muted as Portugal gained their own lap, knocking the Brits back into fifth position and extending their route to the podium to 11 points. With not enough laps to bridge the gap, after a hard-fought race Perrett and Walls finished fifth.

WOMEN’S MADISON
Neah Evans and Maddie Leech delivered a strong ride which saw them work hard to be in the mix for a medal, but unfortunately the podium wasn’t to be, and they took a commendable sixth place finish. While the race saw multiple nations making regular attacks, its cagey nature made it hard for moves to stick and it wasn’t until the latter half of the race that laps started to be gained. Evans and Maddie worked hard to be well-positioned for the first few sprints, clocking up consistent points to see them in fifth position.

By the second half of the race, the Netherlands were top of the leader-board, while Great Britain joined Italy, Ireland, France and Denmark in the fight for podium places. As the Netherlands and Italy attacked for lap gains, a lack of sprint points for Great Britain saw them drop into sixth place.

As the Netherlands took an impressive second lap to extend their lead, Great Britain worked alongside Denmark and Italy in pursuit of the Dutch and their own lap take. As the race splintered into smaller groups, the Italian and British pairs got on the back on the main body to take a lap and move up the leaderboard. The final sprints saw Great Britain unable to hold the pace as the Dutch dominated and the other nations scrambled to try and clock up points. As laps ran down and the podium places started to lock in, Evans and Leech gave it one more push and finished sixth place overall.

MEN’S KEIRIN
Harry Ledingham-Horn just missed out on a guaranteed place in the second round, finishing second in his heat behind Tom Derache (France). Lyall Craig, competing for Great Britain for the first time, finished fourth in his heat also putting him into a repechage. Both riders delivered good rides, showing their future potential but two third place finishes put a stop to their progression in the event.

Medals won by Great Britain:
Gold, Josh Charlton, men’s individual pursuit
Gold, Anna Morris, women’s individual pursuit
Silver, Lauren Bell, Rhian Edmunds, Rhianna Parris-Smith, women’s team sprint
Silver, Rhian Edmunds, women’s keirin
Silver, Maddie Leech, women’s omnium
Silver, Rhian Edmunds, women’s sprint
Silver, Michael Gill, Rhys Britton, Josh Charlton, Noah Hobbs, Will Tidball, men’s team pursuit
Bronze, Harry Radford, Harry-Ledingham Horn, Hayden Norris, men’s team sprint
Bronze, Anna Morris, Sophie Lewis, Maddie Leech, Neah Evans, Grace Lister, women’s team pursuit
Bronze, Michael Gill, men’s individual pursuit
Bronze, Will Tidball, men’s scratch race