Tayeb Braikia of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team enjoyed a fabulous week at the Danish track championships in Copenhagen and Aarhus. He won two silver medals and a bronze over the course of the competition.

Tayeb's first trip to the podium came after the Madison event, which was held on Tuesday in the Aarhus velodrome. In this race, teams of two compete for frequent points on offer during a 50km dash around the small, banked circuit. The main objective is to try and get a lap's gap over your opponents, and the constant attacking and "relaying" (throwing your partner into the action with a handsling) make it a dangerous and exciting event. Tayeb is probably Denmark's leading Madison rider, plying his trade over the wooden boards of Europe's tracks during the winter six-day races, but here he was partnered with the inexperienced Morten Christiansen. They were well pleased with bronze medals behind the "dream ticket" pairing of Jakob Piil and Jimmi Madsen.

In Friday's 4000 metre pursuit, Tayeb clocked the quickest qualifying time. The pursuit is contested by two riders who start on opposite sides of the track, then try to catch each other over 4kms. It is run as a knockout, and Tayeb progressed to the final. Here he again ran up against Jimmi Madsen, who backed up his claims to be Denmark's best pursuiter by beating the Linda McCartney man to the gold medal.

Tayeb added a second silver and third medal in all when he placed second behind newcomer Anders Kristensen in an exciting 40km points race. With sprints for points over the duration of the race, this is the track event that favours the road sprinters, and the quick sprinting, positioning in the bunch on the track and constant changes of speed will have been excellent preparation for Linda McCartney's upcoming Italian races. Tayeb's first is the highly ranked Tre Valle Varesin near Milan on Wednesday, where he will be joined by McCartney stars Max Sciandri, Pascal Richard, Maurzio De Pasquale, Bjornar Vestol, Ciaran Power, Ben Brooks, David McKenzie and new boy Mirko Puglioli.

Ciaran, Macca, Ben and Matt De Canio all warmed up by riding French town centre races yesterday. Ciaran and Dave rode at the lovely little town of Quillan, nestling in the Pyrenean foothills, whilst Matt, Ben and guest Chris Walker of Extran rode at Vayrac in the beautiful Lot. Tour stage winner Christophe Agnolutto was the winner in Quillan, whilst American Bobby Julich won on the hillier Vayrac circuit. The "post-tour" criteriums abound in August, and provide a great opportunity for the French public to see the heroes they have been watching on TV throughout July. McCartney old boy Chris Walker is still Britain's premier criterium rider, so he decided to interrupt his holiday with a little racing. He found it very enjoyable, going with the French stars in every move and winning the bunch sprint for 8th.