The Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome is serving up some sublime track action at these Olympic Games, and Friday night delivered more drama than perhaps any session so far.
Women’s Madison
Evans took to the track for her first race of this Games as reigning Madison World Champion, once again teaming up with Elinor Barker in a manic contest that would keep everyone guessing what the outcome would be.
Starting as they meant to go on, Evans and Barker won the first sprint to take an early lead, their tactic of getting to the front in the lap or two prior to the sprint to give themselves the best chance of points, paying off, as they took second in the third and fourth sprints too.
Whilst the GB pair topped the standings, the Netherlands attacked between sprint six and seven to gain a half lap advantage and take five points on sprint seven, but after a massive turn from Evans, Barker came in to take second to add a further three points to the GB tally. However the Netherlands would then take their lap and gain 20 points for a big lead – game on.
A huge sprint from Evans saw the Scottish-Welsh pairing take sprint eight, but with 40 laps to go, Great Britain sat second on 19 points, nine behind the Dutch.
The next bit of drama came as Italy set off in pursuit of a lap, with Barker and Evans giving chase, but nobody would work with the World Champions. With the next sprint coming with Italy half a lap up, GB would add a solitary point to their tally, but just two minutes later Italy would have their lap, and the lead.
25 laps to go and Belgium were the next team to get off the front, putting the British medal quest under threat and the ladies in the navy blue skinsuits and neon yellow helmets were starting to tire.
They would keep scoring though, another point in the bag, but with 15 to go, anyone taking a lap would surely win a medal. The crowd suddenly went wild as France attacked, and with the Dutch on their wheel, they would bridge up to the Belgians who were still trying to take their lap, but some good work from the Italians and Americans brought the front half of the race back together.
Crucially though, Italy would take the penultimate sprint and would lead by nine points going into the final sprint, which is worth double points. The Danes would make a bid for a late lap gain, GB forced to chase to hang onto that bronze medal.
A big effort from Evans would allow Barker to pull a huge final turn, going over the top of their rivals, almost gaining a lap. As it was though, they would take 10 points by winning the final sprint to secure splendid silver medals.
Italy would clinch gold on 37 points, with GB racking up 31 from sprint points alone, the bronze going to The Netherlands.
Speaking post-race, Evans said:
“That was bedlam – I loved it, but it was pretty intense! We had a plan that we executed really well, but Madisons are just chaotic. We came in really believing we could win and we gave it such a good fight, but it was just really chaotic, with lap gains, crashes and so much going on.
“In things like the pursuit you can go up and be pretty confident in your plan and just try and execute it and be really confident in what you can achieve. But in the Madison something completely out with your control can happen, so just coming away with a medal is fantastic.
“I’ve now got the Omnium, so I need some rest and to try and get some legs back for that. I’m really looking forward to it – it hadn’t really been on my agenda because Katie is an incredible omnium rider but obviously isn’t here. So it’s a great opportunity for me but it hasn’t been my main focus. It’ll be exciting to see how it goes.”
Men’s Sprint
Paisley man Jack Carlin would go in the Men’s Sprint, the semi-finals taking place at lunchtime and the gold and bronze medal races in the evening.
Drawn against defending champion Harrie Lavreysen, who has won the last five World Championships in this event, was always going to be a tough assignment, and whilst Carlin pushed him close, he would be racing for bronze against Lavreysen’s Dutch teammate Jeffery Hoogland in the evening session.
Drawn in position two for the first of three duels, Carlin would work his opponent up and down the track, forcing him to open the sprint with one and a half laps to go, coming round him off the final bend to take the win.
Silver medallist in Tokyo three years ago, Hoogland wasn’t going to go down without a fight, coming round Carlin off the final bend in the second match up to take it to a decider.
The medal deciding head-to-head was as cagey as expected, and as Carlin tried to force his rival up the track he had a huge wobble, nearly taking the Dutchman out. Thankfully neither went down, and the race would be restarted.
With the tension even greater, both men were slightly more cautious in their movements. Carlin at the front opened up with one and a half laps of the track remaining, stealing a march, but Hoogland was alongside him down the backstraight.
But it was do or die for Carlin, who dug deeper than ever before to hold him off and win a brilliant bronze.
Tears flowing post-race, and on the podium, he admitted afterwards:
“It’s been a tough couple of months after what happened in Canada [a big crash] – they’ve probably been the hardest in my career trying to get back to full health. The support team I’ve had – Katie my physio who you might have seen hugging me there at the end, piecing me back together. I didn’t know what to expect from the Sprint – my aim was the Team Sprint and making sure I delivered for the team, and the Keirin is my gold chance, which is still to come.
“Having my friends and family here, in comparison to Tokyo – I think that’s what set me off. Having that support there – they’ve been my absolute rock this last three months, and it’s got me to where I am.
“I’ll be honest – yesterday my head fell off a little bit after the first ride and almost getting pushed out. I rode on pure emotion, which is unlike me as I try and keep myself composed.
“Today I just went in with the attitude that I’m just going to race, I’m in the top four, which is more than I thought I was going to get in the sprint this time, and I just had to race it the best I could. I think those are two of the best races I’ve ever had against Harrie, he’s too strong fundamentally in the sprint, but the Keirin is a different story as there’s more people and things can happen.
“Against Jeffery it obviously went to three and then the incident happened as I went to go up the track. We’re using two different tyres, front and rear, and the front is a bit more slippy and I think I turned a bit too aggressively and it slipped, so I leaned in and that’s when the incident happened. I left it in the hands of the comms, but the race hadn’t really started yet.
“From that point Jeffery got to decide what position he wanted, so he obviously went for two, which is how he got me the first time, so I had to race from the front and make sure I rode a clean race. That was the fastest sprint I’ve done throughout the whole competition – I just gave it absolutely everything and I’m so proud of myself.”
With two days to go of these Paris 2024 Olympic Games, there are still Scottish medal opportunities, with Carlin in Keirin qualifying action tomorrow, and Evans in the Omnium on Sunday.