On 15 October, in the Shanghai velodrome, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, Alessio Magagnotti and Jonathan Milan won silver in the team pursuit at the 2026 Track World Championships. Denmark’s Carl-Frederik Bévort, Lasse Leth, Frederik Madsen and Rasmus Pedersen won the gold-medal final by 4.731 seconds.
It is the first Italian medal of these World Championships, won on the second day of racing. The quartet includes a 30-year-old time triallist with a collection of titles, a 32-year-old Olympic champion, a 26-year-old sprinter and a 19-year-old riding his first senior event.
The gap grows with every kilometre
The final began at 18:00 in Shanghai, 12:00 in Italy. The Azzurri made a good start and went through the first kilometre half a second behind the Danes. The gap grew at every split, and Italy could not reopen the contest.
The Danes stopped the clock just under a second off the world record, which they set themselves in February in Konya. It is Denmark’s fourth consecutive world title.
The bronze medal went to Great Britain, who beat France.
How Italy reached the final
In qualifying on 14 October the Italian quartet finished third, behind Denmark and Great Britain. The first round was their best moment: the fastest heat after Denmark’s, with a time that improved markedly on the morning’s effort.
In that heat the Azzurri beat Great Britain themselves and booked their place in the gold-medal final. There they met the team that has won the last four World Championships.
Four riders, four stories
Filippo Ganna is 30 and is the rider Italy’s track team always puts at the front. On the road he is a time triallist riding for Netcompany Ineos: in 2026 he has won five times in 65 race days. On the track he already has a full trophy cabinet: six world titles in the individual pursuit, plus Olympic gold in Tokyo and team bronze in Paris.
Jonathan Milan is 26 and is a sprinter for Lidl-Trek on the road. On the track he won the team world title in 2021 and the individual one in 2024, and shared Olympic gold in Tokyo and bronze in Paris with Ganna. At the 2023 World Championships he won team silver.
Lamon, the Olympic champion who stays
Francesco Lamon is 32 and rides on the road for Solme Olmo Arvedi, for whom he has raced just five days in 2026. He is the group’s man of experience: Olympic gold in Tokyo, European gold in 2018 and world bronze in 2020, all in the team pursuit.
In Shanghai Lamon is still there, as he was in 2023 and 2024.
Magagnotti, 19 and riding his first senior event
Alessio Magagnotti is from Avio, in Trentino, and was born in 2007. This was his first World Championships in the elite ranks. As a junior he already has world gold in the individual pursuit in 2025, bronze in the kilometre time trial and European team gold.
He rides for Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe Rookies as a sprinter, and in 2026 has won four times in 39 race days. The Shanghai silver comes in the season of his breakthrough at the highest level.
Italy’s history in this event
The men’s team pursuit has given Italy one of its finest chapters. In Tokyo in 2021, Ganna, Consonni, Lamon and Milan beat Denmark in the final and set the world record. It was Italy’s first Olympic gold in the men’s event in more than sixty years. Between 1920 and 1960 there had been seven.
That final was decided in the last kilometre: Denmark were ahead with a thousand metres to go, and Italy caught them. In Shanghai it went the other way, with the Danes pulling clear as the clock ran on.
After Tokyo the quartet changed faces but kept its level. At the 2023 World Championships in Great Britain, Italy won silver with Ganna, Lamon, Milan and Manlio Moro, beaten by a Denmark that even then had Bévort, Leth and Pedersen. In Paris 2024 came bronze, with the final won by Australia. Then two harder World Championships: eleventh place in 2024 and sixth in 2025.
The silver of 15 October therefore puts Italy back on the world podium after three years, in its usual place alongside Denmark.
What this medal is worth
Before the World Championships, head coach Salvoldi explained that Italy is an exception, because its best track riders are also among the strongest on the road: “We are something of a one-off, because in other nations the best track athletes use the road as a means of training.”
Ganna and Milan are the clearest case. They arrive in Shanghai after a full road season, and have chosen to return to the track with the national team.
Salvoldi had also pointed to a fact that gives weight to every result. For Los Angeles 2028 only eight quartets will qualify, against ten for Paris, and the Shanghai World Championships were the first opportunity to collect points.
What comes next
The World Championships run until 18 October. The men’s individual pursuit begins on 16 October, where Ganna and Milan could look for another medal: their participation was not yet certain.
On the same day as the men’s silver, the Italian women’s quartet of Martina Alzini, Elisa Balsamo, Martina Fidanza and Vittoria Guazzini beat Germany in the semi-final and are in the gold-medal final against Great Britain.
The final
| # | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denmark (Carl-Frederik Bévort, Lasse Leth, Frederik Madsen, Rasmus Pedersen) | 3’40”865 |
| 2 | Italy (Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon, Alessio Magagnotti, Jonathan Milan) | 3’45”596 |
| 3 | Great Britain (Noah Hobbs, Henry Hobbs, Ethan Vernon, Oliver Wood) | 3’47”245 |
| 4 | France (Valentin Tabellion, Oscar Nilsson Julien, Mathieu Dupe, Benjamin Thomas) | 3’50”351 |
Report written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- Results and times: Tissot Timing, official UCI timekeeping, “2026 Track World Championships”.
- UCI, “Ganna and the Squadra Azzurra make track cycling history for Italy at Tokyo 2020”.