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Ollie Wood and Mark Stewart missed out on adding another cycling medal to Great Britain’s collection as Portugal won a historic first Olympic gold on the track in the men’s madison.<\/b><\/p>\n
The British pair – current world silver medallists – finished 10th. They picked up 11 points on the sprints but were lapped after Wood was brought down in one of several crashes.<\/p>\n
Stewart was a late replacement for Ethan Hayter, who withdrew with a thigh strain suffered during Wednesday\u2019s silver medal-winning team pursuit.<\/p>\n
“I feel like I have been rear-ended by a lorry,” Wood, 28, told BBC Sport. “The biggest rider on the track hit me from behind.<\/p>\n
“There were quite a few crashes in that segment of the race. I think everyone was so on their limit, cognitive function starts to go at that point.”<\/p>\n
Stewart, also 28, said: “It’s the Olympics; if there is anything we learned from the five days leading into this, it was going to be the hardest madison anyone has experienced.<\/p>\n
“We were ready for it. At the end of the day we just lacked that little bit physically.”<\/p>\n
An inspired performance over the 200 laps from Iuri Leitao and Rui Oliveira, including a blistering final sprint to win double points, saw them become Portugal’s first Olympic champions in Paris.<\/p>\n
They finished on 55 points, eight points ahead of Italy who took silver. Bronze went to Denmark on 41.<\/p>\n
Portugal had never won a medal in track cycling before Leitao’s silver in the omnium on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n