Britain celebrate their bronze medal

The trio of Craig McLean, Chris Hoy and Jamie Staff beat Germany in the third place race-off after Jason Queally had deputised for Hoy in the heats.

France beat Spain in the final to take their second gold medal of the night.

Earlier, Franck Perque had won the 40-kilometre points race, while Britain's Russell Downing finished 14th.

Perque teamed up with Jerome Neuville to win the Madison at the 2002 world championships in Manchester, but this was his first individual world title.

The 29-year-old collected 35 points during the 160-lap event, finishing four clear of Uruguayan Milton Wynants and seven in front of Argentine Juan Esteban Curuchet.

"I don't feel like a world champion yet," said Perque. "It's a crazy feeling."

Paul Manning qualified in the individual pursuit

The French sprint team confirmed their status as favourites to retain their Olympic crown in Athens with their sixth world title in eight years.

Their winning time of 44.394 seconds was almost half a second ahead of the Spanish as they regained the title they won five times in a row from 1997.

Arnaud Tournant, 26, was involved in each of the five previous victories.

He has now won 11 world championship gold medals, having also won the kilometre time trial four times between 1998 and 2001 and the sprint in 2001.

With qualification for the Olympics already secured, the pressure was off the British team.

And they were happy with third place after mechanical problems affected their start in the medal ride-off.

"It was all right. My expectations were higher. It wasn't like us to go slower," said McLean.

"Jamie's bars came loose and they wouldn't stop the clock, but classed it as a false start.

"That meant we couldn't afford to make another mistake or face disqualification. That added some stress."

McLean and Hoy will turn their attention to the kilometre time-trial on Thursday, where they will be among the favourites.

Britain's Rob Hayles and Paul Manning qualified second and third fastest for the individual pursuit final, also on Thursday.

Team sprint:

Final:
France (Mickael Bourgain, Laurent Gane, Arnaud Tournant) 44.394secs bt Spain (Jose Antonio Escuredo Raimondez, Salvador Melia, Jose Antonio Villenueva Trinidad) 44.824

Bronze medal match:
Great Britain (Craig McLean, Jason Queally, Jamie Staff) 44.620secs bt Germany (Carsten Bergemann, Jens Fielder, John Matthias) 44.765

Points race (40km):
1. Franck Perque (Fra) 35
2. Milton Wynants (Uru) 31
3. Juan Esteban Curuchet (Arg) 28
14. Russell Downing (GB) 11

Individual Pursuit Qualifying:
1. Sergi Escobar Roure (Spa) 4.19:671
2. Robert Hayles (GB) 4.21:530
3. Paul Manning (GB) 4.21:912