Olympics-Cycling-Danes battle to gold in men's madison
Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Cycling - Track - Men's Madison - Final - Izu Velodrome - Shizuoka, Japan - August 7, 2021. Michael Morkov of Denmark and Lasse Hansen of Denmark on the way to winning the gold medal REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
IZU, Japan : Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Morkov combined brilliantly to edge a thrilling battle for gold in the men's madison at the Izu Velodrome on Saturday.
Accumulating sprint points steadily throughout a brutal 200-lap endurance race the world champion duo opened up a slender lead over early attackers France in the second half of the race.
They then held on to win with 43 points.
Britain's Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls put in a storming finish to win the last sprint and move above France into the silver-medal position.
They were level on 40 points with the French duo of Benjamin Thomas and Donavan Grondin but their final sprint win meant they snatched the silver medal.
The French appeared to pay for their massive mid-race attack which failed to land them a lap and settled for bronze.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
