Italy vs. Great Britain Prediction on August 7, 2024

Match info

One of the oldest cycling competitions at the Olympics is the men’s track team pursuit, which dates back to the London Games in 1908. In addition to winning the inaugural gold medal, Great Britain has been the most successful team lately. But based on the odds offered by UnionPay bookmakers, they’ll have at least two strong challengers for gold when the competition in Paris 2024 kicks off on Monday, August 5, with a qualifying round, and concludes on Wednesday, August 7, at 6:25 p.m. local time with finals on the boards of the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

Following the retirement of Brad Wiggins and Ed Clancy in 2016, the British squad had to rebuild after winning gold in Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro. The leaders in recent years have been Italy and Denmark, but the British are quickly regaining their position.

Meeting statistics

August 5 is the start of the competition with the qualifying round. The color of the medals teams are vying for is decided in the first round, and only the top four teams are eligible to compete for them. The eight best teams move on beyond the first round. First vs. fourth and second vs. third pit the top four qualifiers against one another. The gold is up for grabs for the winners of each heat. The teams must compete for every millisecond, even if they are losing because the two teams with the next fastest times among the remaining six will fight for the bronze medal.

Italy triumphed over Denmark by a slim margin at the men’s team pursuit event of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Filippo Ganna, Simone Consonni, Jonathan Milan, and Francesco Lamon broke a world record in the gold medal round. But at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, the Danes—Carl-Frederik Bévort, Niklas Larsen, Frederik Rodenberg, Michael Mørkøv, and Rasmus Lund Pedersen—overcame the Italians.

Teams in cycling compete to be as aerodynamic as possible in a war of technology and might. Aerodynamics guru Dan Bigham has been transforming the British team pursuit squad and putting the group, together with Oliver Wood, Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, and Ethan Vernon, back in the running for the medals.

Match analytics

Italy, whose main star is two-time world time trial champion Filippo Ganna, is the biggest favorite in Paris. The scariest scare for the defending champions will come from Great Britain and Denmark. The Scandinavians placed second in Tokyo and defeated Italy in Glasgow to win last year’s World Champs. New Zealand and Australia are both serious competitors behind them.

Italy will win the gold medal in our team pursuit winner prediction. Powbet set odds of 2.44 on this outright bet.