The French team had just one change from their line-up from 2015, with Benjamin le Ny coming in as the junior man in the four-person event, replacing Antoine Philipp.

With Victor Koretzky remaining as their under-23 man, as well as Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Jordan Sarrou resuming their roles as the elite woman and man respectively, it came as no surprise that the defending champions proved dominant in the competition.

Koretzky had given them an early advantage when tackling the first lap of the cross-country course, before Le Ny stretched their lead at the halfway mark of the competition.

Defending women’s individual champion Ferrand-Prevot, who is set to compete in the road race and mountain bike at Rio 2016, continued to push the French team further clear and Sarrou sealed the victory by crossing the line in a time of 59min 49sec.

The Czech Republic had appeared unlikely to win a medal after lying in ninth position at the halfway stage of the race but Katerina Nash delivered an impressive rider to haul the home team into second place.

Jaroslav Kulhavy, the London 2012 Olympic cross-country champion, ensured his team-mates hard work would not go to waste by securing the silver medal in 60:05..

Switzerland completed the podium places after Filippo Colombo, Vital Albin, Sina Frei and Lars Forster finished in a time of 60:26, finishing seven seconds ahead of Germany.

The junior cross-country races are set to take place tomorrow and the elite women’s event are then due to be held on Saturday (July 2).

The men’s competition is due to round off the Championships on Sunday (July 3).