Iuri Leitao of Portugal celebrates after winning gold.Matthew Childs/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 was in equal disbelief as he hugged family members.
A crazy race began with Austria’s duo taking a lap almost immediately before being lapped numerous times and pulling out.
That set the tone for things to come.
Italians Simone Consonni and Elia Viviani took command as they mopped up points in a succession of sprints before gaining a lap and they looked poised for victory.
Spain were also in the frame but Portugal, who had scored eight points in the first 150 laps, suddenly caught fire as the race disintegrated with crashes galore.
They won three successive sprints, bagging five points for each, then made a lap on the peloton for another 20 points and won the sprint to the finish line to make history.
It marked an incredible 12 months for Leitao who a year ago became a world champion in the omnium.
Germany's Theo Reinhardt and New Zealand's Aaron Murray Gate suffer a crash in the men's track cycling madison final of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, south-west of Paris, on August 10, 2024.SEBASTIEN BOZON/Getty Images
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, having been catapulted through the air after hitting a grounded bike and remonstrating and been told he was in fit state to continue.
Britain’s Oliver Wood was also involved in an accident with a Dutch rider, taking a blow to the head.
Earlier on Saturday, there was a shock in the men’s keirin first round when Malaysia’s twice Olympic medallist Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified.
Awang, nicknamed the “pocket rocket”, was excluded after overtaking the motorised derny before it pulled off the track.
The 36-year-old, who will retire after the Olympics, looked distraught as he sat down alongside his coaches.
Awang took a bronze medal in Rio which was Malaysia’s first track cycling Olympic medal. He went one better in Tokyo where he was runner-up behind Jason Kenny.
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