Ireland's men's madison pairing of Mark Downey and Felix English were left disappointed to at the Olympic Games when they endured a bruising race.
Denmark's Michael Mørkøv and Lasse Norman Hansen took the gold medal, both well known to Irish cycling fans. Mørkøv was Sam Bennett's lead-out man at Deceuninck-QuickStep and Norman Hansen, now a two-time Olympic champion, previously rode for Irish ProContinental team Aqua Blue Sport and now rides for Qhubeka Assos.
By the end of the 200-lap race, with 20 sprints, the Danes had scored 43 points in what was a very high-speed contest. The standard in the event has shot up since it was added to the Olympic programme in 2017 and because of the presence of WorldTour pro riders who drop in for the Worlds and Olympics.
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English and Downey have enjoyed great success in the event and have even won gold at UCI World Cup level. However, today was not their day and having been forced onto the back foot by the incredible pace from the gun they fell behind.
The Irish duo lost two laps and from that point their challenge faded and they did not finish. The Irish women - Shannon McCurley and Emily Kay - also failed to finish their madison race yesterday after McCurley crashed.
Today the Danes won the gold ahead of Great Britain’s Matt Walls and Ethan Hayter, who ride for Bora-hansgrohe and Ineos Grenadiers respectively. Walls had already won gold in the omnium at these Games.
The madison bronze medal went to Benjamin Thomas and Donavan Grondin, with ride for Groupama-FDJ and Arkéa Samsic respectively. Thomas is the French national TT champion.
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