The crowd at the velodrome rang with 'Allez les Bleus' after Benjamin Thomas put on a points race masterclass to take home the gold medal in the men's Omnium. The result was a redemption for Thomas, who finished fourth in the Omnium in Tokyo and overcame a crash and a miscue by the officials in the elimination race to sail to victory by 11 points.
World champion Iuri Leitao (Portugal) claimed the silver medal, and Fabio Van Den Bossche (Belgium) snatched the bronze in a close-fought race filled with attacks.
"It's a cascade of emotions - once I crossed the line and all my friends and family were here," Thomas said. "I also went through all these emotions during the race. I couldn't have dreamed anything better. This is the second time I'm in the Olympics. In Tokyo, I was really disappointed but it's thanks to this experience that I built on and I looked for the resources that I had to overcome that experience."
Thomas came into the final race of the Omnium, the points race, in second place in the standings, having won the scratch race and come second in the elimination. He was eight points behind Belgium's Van Den Bossche but made all the right moves. Thomas attacked to claim the second sprint in the 100-lap points race and then lapped the field together with Aaron Gate (New Zealand), Van Den Bossche and Japan's Kazushige Kuboki.
The Frenchman finally pulled ahead in the Omnium overall standings after the sixth lap and then disaster nearly struck after the seventh sprint when he crashed with 24 laps to go after a touch of wheels out of turn two. He was quickly up and back in the race and even going on the attack, taking out sprint nine and then stealing away with Leitao and Alberto Torres (Spain) to seal the gold medal.
It could have sent any other rider into panic stations, but Thomas stayed calm, got back into the race before the next sprint, and was able to parlay his advantage into victory.
"When you're in the middle of an effort and you fall, the first thing you need to do is stand up and look at your bike. I think I changed bikes - I moved around a little to see if I'd broken anything and everything was fine. I just started again because I knew I'd done a good race. I wasn't penalized, I just kept cool and after the sprint, I showed I was still there. So this fall was just a joke."
Leitao, who stunned the world when he soloed away repeatedly during the races in the Omnium world championships in Glasgow last year, wasn't given as much leeway at the Olympics but still showed immense poise and intelligence in fighting for the silver medal.
Track cycling, he said, "is not just about performance, it's about tactical intelligence and making the least amount of errors. You do the best you can with your strengths. It's important to manage things well and save yourself for the key moments in the race. We focus on our mental strength and reading the race. That's why we've produced good results. When you get into a race like this and you put it all together, you get, in this case, a silver medal."
Leitao had a strong tempo race and finished seventh in the scratch race, but there was a confusing incident during the elimination race where the officials apparently did not ring the bell before calling him out of the race in the next lap.
"I will not say it's not my fault, I didn't hear the bell, many people didn't hear the bell - I'll have to check it after but after it's done, you can't do anything to change it. You have to keep going and do your best in the next race. I think it's not my fault."
Then, he came out hitting in the points race, one of five riders to lap the field twice, which helped him move ahead of Van Den Bossche, who could only lap once.
"The emotions are always there and the rivals are so good you cannot believe too early, you have to keep fighting. When I crossed the line and I saw I did it, it was super nice. It's unbelievable to achieve it," Leitao said.
Van Den Bossche raced aggressively in the early races.
"Of course, I was third in the Scratch, won the Tempo race, and did a decent Elimination, so you feel the momentum and you know that it's the day that it can happen. You have to stay cool. I pressed my gut, and tried to do that as much as possible. I made some mistakes in the end, focusing too much on the medal. It was not perfect, but that doesn't matter, the result is what counts."
"It's been really emotional to me as well. This is one of the highest things to reach in my career and to do it at this age (23) already, that's something."
Race 1: Scratch race
Benjamin Thomas of France thrilled his home country's Olympic velodrome, lapping the field with three other riders to take the first race in the men's Omnium on Thursday at the Paris Olympic Games.
Thomas finished ahead of breakaway companions Niklas Larsen (Denmark) and Fabio Van Den Bossche (Belgium) to take the lead in the four-race event, with the Netherlands Jan-Willem van Schip finishing fourth out of the move that lapped the field.
The race started with an early attack Tim Torn Teutenerg (Germany), while world champion Iuri Leitao (Portugal) launched his signature move with 26 laps still to go. This time, Aaron Gate (New Zealand) was wise to the move but the peloton weren't letting the world Omnium champion get away so easily as he did in Glasgow.
Then it was the turn of Thomas, who ignited the hometown crowd with a brief attack with 21 laps remaining. Grant Koontz (USA) countered the move and got the biggest gap so far, being chased by Van Den Bossche.
Van Schip bridged across with Thomas and Larsen making for a dangerous five-man move with 15 laps to go that exploded the race, but Koontz was sadly dropped and found himself chasing for the rest of the lap with two dropped riders who could not pull through.
Van Schip, Van Den Bossche, Larsen and Thomas closed in on the peloton with 7 laps to go, and the win would come from the four riders. Koontz fought to hold off the chase but was caught as the sprint opened up behind Japan's Kuboki Kazushige.
France's Thomas surged in the peloton behind and took out the win with Larsen and Van Den Bossche in second and third.
Race 2: Tempo race
In the second race of the men's Omnium, the Tempo Race Portugal's Leitao once again attacked for the opening sprint, followed closely by Thomas and Gate. Leitao took the first three sprints while Gate took the third but the peloton were keen to the challenge and they were caught.
Thomas followed the counter move from Denmark's Larsen and Van den Bossche (Belgium) to claim a point before the Belgian attacked solo and took out seven sprints before latching onto the back of the field to earn 20 points for lapping up.
Teutenberg (Germany), Leitao, Jan Vones (Czechia), Koontz and Alex Vogel (Switzerland) then attacked to try and gain a lap. As they neared the rear of the field, Vones attacked to steal the lap but a surge in the field made the rest of the attackers struggle to catch the field, but they did with 10 laps to go.
Van Den Bossche launched another late move to sweep up more sprint points, coming away with 11 in total, together with 20 points for lapping the field, he won the Tempo race with 31 points. Leitao was second with 28 while Teutenberg also improved his fortunes with third place in the Tempo.
With the result, the Belgian took the lead in the standings after two races with 76 points, Larsen second with 68 and Leitao third with 66 points.
Race 3: Elimination race
Ethan Hayter (Great Britain) claimed a fiasco of an elimination race, finishing ahead Benjamin Thomas (France) with Tim Torn Teutenberg (Germany) in third after the officials incorrectly announced him as eliminated but then changed their mind to putting Fernando Gaviria (Colombia) out of the race instead after Thomas had already sat up.
Fabio Van Den Bossche (Belgium) finished sixth to hold onto his lead by 10 points, with Thomas moving into second. Leitao of Portugal ended the race in seventh in a confusing call by the judges who failed to ring the bell before the sprint. He held onto third with Hayter moving up into fifth with the points race still to come.
However, long after the race, the judges ruled that Viviani had broken the sprinter's lane rules in running into Teutenberg and relegated the Rio gold medalist to fourth place.
