Olympics-Cycling-Portugal win historic gold in crash-littered men’s Madison

By Martyn Herman

SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (Reuters) -Portugal claimed their first-ever Olympic track cycling gold medal as Iuri Leitao and Rui Oliviera blasted out of nowhere to win a crash-littered men’s Madison race on Saturday.

After 200 laps of mayhem the Portuguese duo plotted a way through the chaos to top the leaderboard with 55 points to Italy’s 47. Tokyo champions Denmark were third on 41.

Leitao won Portugal’s first-ever Olympic track cycling medal when he was runner-up in the omnium to France’s Benjamin Thomas but two days later he went one better.

The 26-year-old looked stunned at the finish, steering his bike to the top of the steep banking before awkwardly getting out of the saddle and sitting in the middle of the track.

Oliviera, who had never won a top-level race in his life, was in equal disbelief as he hugged family members.

“We trained hard to do the last five or six minutes at full gas and I saved my golden bullet until last,” Leitao told reporters. “Before the omnium I thought these riders were like supermen but after that I knew they were beatable.”

A crazy race began with Austria’s duo taking a lap almost immediately before being lapped numerous times and being pulled out. That set the tone for things to come.

Italians Simone Consonni and Elia Viviani took command as they mopped up points by winning four of the first nine sprints and then taking a lap to gain another 20 points and rocket to the top of the leaderboard.

Spain were also in the frame as were the Czechs but Portugal, who had scored eight points in the first 150 laps and gone almost unnoticed, suddenly caught fire as the race began to disintegrate with crashes galore.

They won three successive sprints, bagging five points for each, then made a lap on the peloton for another 20. Oliviera then timed his last hand-sling perfectly to launch his team mate around the final 400 metres to make history.

It marked an incredible 12 months for Leitao who a year ago became a world champion in the omnium.

LATE CRASH

Italy will rue a late crash that left Consonni, brother of Chiara Consonni who won gold in the women’s Madison 24 hours earlier, on the deck.

He and Viviani were able to continue but could not respond to Portugal’s late onslaught, with veteran Viviani in tears after the race.

Crashes marred the race with Spain’s Albert Torres Barcelo arguing with judges after being told he could not continue after he was catapulted through the air after hitting a grounded bike.

Britain’s Oliver Wood was also involved in an ugly accident and needed head checks after a Dutch rider took him out.

Earlier on Saturday, Malaysia’s twice Olympic medallist Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified from the keirin as his glittering career ended in sad fashion.

Awang, nicknamed the “pocket rocket”, was excluded after overtaking the motorised derny before it pulled off the track.

The 36-year-old, who won bronze in Rio and silver in Tokyo, looked distraught as he sat down alongside his coaches.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)