GB take gold on opening day of Euros

Great Britain's male and female team pursuiters both won gold medals on the opening day of the European Championships in the Netherlands.

Both teams successfully defended the titles they won in 2010, while Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish took gold in the women's team sprint.

However, the men's sprint team could only finish fifth after a slip from Jason Kenny cost them half a second.

"We're not going to blame anyone. Jason Kenny slipped on his second down-stroke," said Great Britain sprint coach Jan van Eijden.

"The back wheel slipped but there's nothing we can do now except go home, review the procedure and hopefully do better. It's better that it happened here rather than at the Worlds or Olympics."

The European Championships are part of the new qualification system for the Olympics.

Points are earned for each Olympic cycling event during a two-year period, with the top nations for each event going to London 2012.