The French team were hoping to defend the title they earned last year.

Competition had featured as part of the Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships, but the discipline has now been moved to be part of the urban event.

The International Cycling Union (UCI), which announced this innovation in May, expressed their hope the new event would attract fresh interest in the sport.

Mountain bike eliminator and BMX freestyle are also part of the new World Championships, which is taking place at the Xinhua Park in China.

The team trials competition attracted attention on the opening day in Chengdu, which was awarded the event five months after the UCI signed a "ground-breaking" agreement with Wanda Sports to promote cycling in China.

Vincent Hermance, Alex Rudeau, Louis Grillon, Noah Cardona and Manon Basseville formed the French trials squad.

They impressed during the event, which sees riders tackle obstacles grouped into sections, with the aim of not setting foot or having any part of the bike, other than the wheels, touch the ground.

Hermance led the way for the team, as he was awarded a total of 170 points after coming through the five sections.

With three of his team-mates also scoring over 100 points, the defending champions eventually finished on a total of 620 points.

Germany had provided a strong challenge as Raphael Zehentner and Dominik Oswald both managed to score 170 points, but their team lacked the consistency of their French rivals.

It led to them finishing some way short of the winners, with their score of 550 points proving only enough to take the silver medal.

Switzerland were awarded the bronze medal on the same total score, having accrued less points than Germany on the highest-level section of the course.

Semi-finals of the individual events are due to take place for the next two days, with qualification for the mountain bike eliminator competition also beginning on Friday (November 10).

The individual trials finals will be held the following day, with BMX freestyle and cross country eliminator events bringing the Championships to a close on Sunday (November 12).

An Opening Ceremony was held earlier today, as the Championships officially got underway in the Chinese city.