Archibald clinches silver on opening day of European Track Championships

Archibald, who marked her Olympic Games debut by winning gold as part of the women's team pursuit this summer, was this time riding solo on day one of the European Championships.

And she got Great Britain's campaign off to a successful start with an assured performance, which only saw her pipped to gold by Dutch rider Kirsten Wild in the final head-to-head.

"My legs felt food. I'm saying I'm happy with silver…but people are only really happy with gold!" Archibald, who will be back on the track for the individual pursuit and omnium later in the week, told British Cycling.

"It's aggravating because I can see how I should have played it out. I had the conversation beforehand that if I got in that situation to go with plan A, and that was like plan Z!

"I get another crack at that in the omnium and hopefully I can get a better result."

With a number of leading British riders still taking a break following Rio, the women's team pursuit squad meanwhile had a different look about it but there were encouraging signs on day one as Dannielle Khan, Emily Kay, Emily Nelson and Manon Lloyd put in a strong ride to finish in third place and set up a semi-final with sixth-placed Russia on Thursday.

The men's team, including men's Rio gold medallist Steven Burke, were sixth fastest and will face Italy in their own semi-final on Thursday.

Double Olympic silver medallist Becky James is one of those resting post Rio but her older sister kept the flag flying for the family as she clocked a personal best time of 35.139 to finish seventh in the 500m time trial, with teammate and European Championship debutant Ellie Richardson 11th.

In the men's kilo time trial, Joe Truman was fifth while Ryan Owens was 13th with Ollie Wood 20th in the men's scratch race final.

Sportsbeat 2016