Great Britain’s hopes of success in the men’s Madison at the Paris Olympics were knocked to the floor when Ollie Wood was ‘rear-ended’ by another rider – just one of a number of crashes in a chaotic race in which Portugal prevailed with a couple of inspired late plays.
The final quarter of the 200-lap event was beset by spills, throwing the race into disarray as Italy, Spain, and Belgium all had riders hitting the pine at speed. But the most dramatic incident saw Wood completely cleaned out by the Dutchman Jan-Willem van Schip.
The Dutch were looking to gain a lap and Van Schip suddenly rode into Wood as he nudged down the banking at the top end of the track, making head-to-head contact and sending the British rider sprawling to the floor.
The Dutch were retrospectively disqualified by the race jury, with Van Schip fined 1,000CHF (£900) for “improper conduct and behaviour that endangers another rider”.
Great Britain had already started on the back foot given the withdrawal of Ethan Hayter due to a thigh strain – Mark Stewart stepping in as his replacement – and they were well down the standings heading towards the business end of the race. But although Wood was able to remount, their race was effectively over, as they lost a lap soon after his return.
“I feel like I’ve been rear-ended by a lorry,” Wood told Discovery, although he didn’t seem to harbour any real grudge.
“Everyone has gone so deep, Van Schip especially - I’ve seen him go real deep before. He was obviously just not looking and ploughed straight into me.”
The crash occurred with 40 laps remaining, and triggered a spate of incidents in which the race descended into chaos. Soon after, a Belgian rider hit the deck and sent Spain’s Albert Torres flying over his handlebars across the track. Spain had been very much in the race but Torres was not permitted to re-enter the track, much to his exasperation.
Several laps later, Simone Consonni went down after a botched hand-sling with his Italian partner Elia Viviani. Italy, at that point, were in gold medal position ahead of Denmark, both teams having gained a lap with 120 to go. In bronze were the Czech Republic who stole a lap with 50 to go. Meanwhile, as if the race couldn’t get any more unhinged, Austria, who had gained a lap inside the first 15, proceeded to lose four and were hooked from the race.
Portugal, though, came from nowhere. The pairing of Rui Oliveira and Iúri Leitão rode the storm and managed to gain a lap with 11 to go to haul themselves into silver medal position. Italy were back on the track and back in it, but with double points available for the final sprint on the final lap, Portugal pounced again. Leitão went from range, was first to the line by a distance, and collected 10 more points to make it 30 in the space of 11 laps.
That took them to 55, eight points ahead of the Italians, triggering stunned celebrations as the result was confirmed. Leitão attempted to stop at the rails at the top of the track to greet his family, before awkwardly toppling over and sliding down the banking. It was that sort of race.
The Italians, meanwhile were distraught, Viviani in floods of tears. The bronze medal went to Denmark on 41 points while Britain ended up in 10th on -9.
“It was exactly what we expected,” said Stewart. “We knew we’d go out and the gear would feel small. We hoped the race would come to us, we rode sort of conservatively, but the race just never slowed down.
“We looked to latch onto teams taking a lap, we knew how to execute it, but at the end of the day we just lacked what those top teams had today, but that’s just sport, isn’t it?”
Emma Finucane marches on in all-star Sprint
The Madison was the only medal event of Saturday's session, which also saw action in the women's Individual Sprint and the men's Keirin.
Britain's new sprinting sensation Emma Finucane, who has already won gold in the Team Sprint and bronze in the Keirin at these Games, progressed calmly through the 1/8 finals and the quarterfinals to book her place in the semifinals on Sunday.
The 21-year-old got the better of Kristina Clonan (Australia) in the 1/8 final, before taking out the Colombian Martha Bayona in the quarterfinal with apparent ease. With the quarterfinal a best-of-three affair, Finucane looked poised and comfortably got the better of her opponent to win 2-0, easing clear on both occasions and looking like she had more to give.
She'll be back in action on Sunday, but her teammate Sophie Capewell is out. She beat New Zealand's Shaane Fulton in the 1/8 finals but was well beaten by the Dutchwoman Hetty van de Wouw in the quarterfinal.
Van de Wouw had won silver ahead of Finucane in the Keirin, and the rider that beat them both that day, Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) remains in the hunt in the Individual Sprint, seeing off the challenge of Germany's Emma Hinze. The fourth and final rider through to the semi-final was Hinze's compatriot Leah Friedrich, who dispatched the defending Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell (Canada) as all four quarterfinals were won in straight heats.
With Finucane winning the world title last year ahead of Friedrich and Andrews, it's a stellar cast, with Van de Wouw the surprise package but clearly on song at these Games. Finucane will square up against Andrews in a mouth-watering semi-final on Sunday.
Brits and Dutch progress in the Keirin
Saturday's session also saw the first round of the men's Keirin, which saw the major favourites, including the Dutch powerhouse Harrie Lavreysen, progress through to Sunday's latter rounds.
British duo Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull are both safely through, although Turnbull did it the hard way, placing fourth in his heat before coming through in the repechages. Carlin, meanwhile, was in the same heat as Lavreysen, finishing second as the favourite – already a gold medallist in the Team Sprint and Individual Sprint – ran away with it.
Lavreysen's compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland also progressed, placing second in his heat behind Matthew Glaetzer as Australia's danger men both won their heats, Matthew Richardson triumphing elsewhere.
The Keirin action saw some unsavoury moments, too. Firstly, the veteran Malaysian rider Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified for nudging ahead of the derny, a controversial decision given the number of incidents that have gone unpunished this week.
More seriously, there was a horror crash in a repechage for Trinidad & Tobago's Kwesi Browne, who slid unconsciously down the track before the race was stopped for urgent medical attention. Browne was stretchered out of the velodrome but fortunately appeared to escape serious injury.
"He's fine. The medial team here at the velodrome did a wonderful job in taking care of him," said Trinidad & Tobago's cycling manager Rowena Williams. "They did some quick X-rays to make sure there were no broken bones, no major injuries to his head. Kwesi is fine. He's walking and talking, so we want to thank everyone for their support."
