Wins for Britain and France at track world championships

By Stephen Farrand

MANCHESTER (Reuters) - Britain and France grabbed the spotlight on the opening day of the track cycling world championships on Wednesday.

France won the team sprint while home rider Bradley Wiggins took the 4,000 metres individual pursuit title.

Cuba's Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez captured the women's 500 metres time trial and Aliaksandr Lisouski of Belarus was first in the men's scratch race.

The French trio of Gregory Bauge, Kevin Sireau and Arnaud Tournant clocked 43.271 seconds for the three laps of the 250-metre track to land gold in the team sprint.

Britain were second and Netherlands took the bronze.

"I raced the final as if it was the last race of my career. I wasn't thinking of anything as I was riding," Tournant told reporters.

"It was great to win."

Wiggins confirmed he was the best individual pursuit rider by adding a second consecutive world title to the gold he won in the 2004 Athens Olympics.