Ollie Wood: Team GB rider taken out in chaotic Madison final as Portugal claim shock win - 'Rear-ended by a lorry'

The day after Great Britain's Elinor Barker and Neah Evans snatched a dramatic late silver in the women's Madison, the men's pair of Ollie Wood and Mark Stewart were unable to repeat their compatriots' feat. Stewart was a late replacement for Ethan Hayter, but it was Wood who found himself sprawled on the boards after being taken out by the Dutch. Portugal came home as the shock champions.

'He just ploughed straight into me!' - GB's Wood on controversial crash in Madison

Video credit: TNT Sports

Team GB's Ollie Wood said he felt like he was "rear-ended by a lorry" after being wiped out by Dutch rider Jan-Willem van Schip in the men's Madison final.

Portugal were the shock winners of the event, which also saw Spanish rider Albert Torres sent flying in the closing stages.

Raced over 50km, the Madison rewards the four teams that cross the line first in 10-lap intervals with between one and five points, while double points are on offer for the 20th and final sprint.

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A race-defining 20 points are given to any team that can lap the pack, which ended up proving decisive in the women's event on Friday.

Britain's prospects were dented by their unfortunate collision, but Wood admitted he did not feel Van Schip's shunt was intentional.

“I feel like I’ve been rear-ended by a lorry, that’s all," Wood told Eurosport. "Everyone’s gone so deep. Van Schip especially, I’ve seen him go real deep before. He’s obviously not looking and ploughed straight into me.”

Stewart added that he was surprised by the unrelenting pace of the final, in which Team GB were eventually lapped out of contention, finishing on -9 points.

Stewart said: “We knew we’d go out and the gear would feel small. We just hoped the race would come to us, sort of conservative. But the race never slowed down.

“We looked to latch onto a team taking a lap. We sort of knew how to. We knew how to execute it. At the end of the day we just lacked what those top teams have and that’s sport, isn’t it?”

Austria set off for an ill-fated attack early on, hoping to take the rest of the field by surprise, and they eventually succeeded in lapping the peloton.

Stewart and Wood recorded their first points of the final after 30 laps, finishing third behind Italy and Australia.

It took 50 laps for Austria's early exertions to catch up with them as they found themselves reeled in by the peloton, not once but twice, going from +25 to -15 in the blink of an eye.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Approaching the 80-lap mark, Great Britain kept their total ticking over with another third place to drag them inside the top 10 and seven points shy of leaders Spain.

Italian pair Simone Consonni and Elia Viviani leveraged their hand-slinging transitions to good effect and launched a long-running attack that left them top by 29 points.

And Denmark soon joined them in pulling off a brilliant breakaway to sit comfortably in second on 32 points.

But Japan chose their moment to perfection, capitalising on hesitation from the pack to race round for a relatively comfortable 20 points.

Time was running out for Wood and Stewart, who had still not taken the lead in any sprint and were showing no signs of making a breakaway.

Oliver Wood and Mark Stewart (Getty Images)

Image credit: Getty Images

Four top-four finishes in five sprints had Great Britain in joint-eighth, but given the efforts of Italy, Denmark, Japan and subsequently Czechia, they were still 21 points off the podium.

Then, in a bizarre incident, Wood was sent flying by Van Schip who was chasing a 20-point bonus.

It ushered in a period of chaos, with Spanish rider Torres involved in a nasty crash that had him pulled from the race despite his protestations.

Italy's duo of Consonni and Viviani conspired to click wheels during a failed handover, but one rider stayed upright to continue their charge.

Meanwhile, Team GB were all but put out of contention with partner-less Stewart succumbing to a lap and suddenly Portugal took advantage of the bedlam to take a 20 and go top.

All that remained was for Portugal to hold off challengers Italy in the final double-point sprint, which they achieved in style, taking the line first to stun the National Velodrome.

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