Felix English and Mark Downey have both expressed their disappointment at not finishing the madison at the Olympic Games, saying the standard in the event had shot up and they had work to do.
Both riders, who have scored World Cup gold in this event in the past, said the speed in the race today was like nothing they had ever witnessed before. Even though they opted for a higher gear than ever before, it wasn't enough.
The medals went to Denmark, Great Britain and France in that order, with five of the six medal-winning riders competing for WorldTour teams and the other racing at ProContinental level. Since the madison was added to the Olympic schedule in 2017 the standard in the event has shot up and it has attracted many top WorldTour riders.
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And when it came to analysing their performance today, English and Downey were brutally honest, though said the absence of track racing for over a year, due to the pandemic, was hard to deal with.
“It’s been a little while since we’ve done a madison but, yeah, that’s stepped up a serious amount even since the Worlds last March when we qualified. We went onto our biggest gear that we’ve ever ridden tonight and it was crazy," English said.
"We haven’t done a race like that before, it was just so, so, so quick. When it was on, it was really, really, really on. And we didn’t have it tonight; we really struggled and it’s hard to take. We fought so hard to get and that was literally all we could do tonight.
“That was one of the fastest, well, the fastest race we’ve ever done. We didn’t really know what to expect, but it was certainly a shock to the system once we got out there. When it was on, the speed was just phenomenal really."
Despite the bruising encounter, English said the Olympics was the pinnacle of the sport and he was glad he had put in the work to get to Japan.
“Being here is a great accomplishment for both of us and it’s obviously a first Olympics for both. We’ve tasted success in the past and every race we go to we really want to be able to compete," he said.
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"And it’s a little while in the madison since we’ve been at the pointy end. But really want to get back to where we were. I truly believe we can, but we’ve got some work to do."
Downey was equally as honest, saying that he and English would need to rebuild, but adding that being at the Games was a real honour.
“It’s going to take a while to take the positives from it, but me and Felix have had a rough journey to get here, and we said we would give it our best out there today," he said.
“Look, we have to be proud of the journey we have had, we can’t be disappointed, but just as athletes, we want to compete, we want to fight. We want to be there at the end but today, we weren’t, so back to the drawing board.
“The race has changed a lot over the last four or five years and, Felix has already mentioned it, we geared up two inches on our world champs gear. We thought that would be enough. We gave it our best, we haven’t raced for a while; there’s guys dropping in off the Tour de France here."
While it was
great to the get to the Games, he said he had hoped to come to Japan and really
perform.
“Me and Felix are athletes and we really like to present the best versions of ourselves, but today was hard," Downey added.
They would now go home and see their families and would review the Olympic experience and performance. He knew it was great to follow in the footsteps of his father, Seamus, who rode for Ireland at the Olympics, but the significance of that may take a while to set in.
“We may be a bit
disappointed with the result today, but I guess in about 20 years when I’m a
bit fat and wrinkly I can sit and say ‘I did that one day’ too,” he said.
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