It came on the second day of competition at the Velodrome Fassa Bortolo in the Italian town.

A quartet of Martina Fidanza, Letizia Paternoster, Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini combined for a blistering 4min 21.554sec.

New Zealand had pushed them close in the first round before settling for the silver medal as France won the race for bronze.

Exact times for the minor medallists have not yet been published due to a problem with the live results system.

Russia continued the superb form they showed in winning men's and women's team sprints yesterday with victory in the men's team pursuit today.

Lev Gonov, Gleb Syritsa, Ivan Smirnov and Dmitry Mukhomriarov combined for a time of 4:01.675.

It proved enough to comfortably defeat Denmark in the final.

The Danes clocked 4:03.928 while New Zealand managed 4:03.044 for silver. 

Russia then claimed a fourth gold medal courtesy of Pavel Percuk.

He crossed first in front of Poland's Daniel Rochna as James Brister of Australia took bronze.

Daniel Babor of Czech Republic also claimed victory today in the men's scratch race.

Filip Prokopyszyn of Poland took silver while bronze went to Ivan Ruiz of Argentina.

Organisers have said more than 200 male and 100 female cyclists from 42 countries have entered this year’s competition.

The Championships are scheduled to conclude on Sunday (August 27).