Omnium, Men

The men’s omnium was widely anticipated at the Rio Olympics because it matched some of the world’s best endurance track riders with a number of riders returning to the track after successful careers on the road. Fernando Gaviria of Colombia had won the last two World Championships and was favourite to add the Olympic title, but there was an air of anticipation to see how road specialists Elia Viviani and Mark Cavendish would fare in Rio. Reigning champion Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark was also considered a strong candidate for gold.

After two of the six events it appeared Hansen would be unstoppable in his pursuit of glory. He won both the scratch race and pursuit but a momentary lapse of concentration in the early stages of the elimination race ruined his chances in a split second. This meant that as the riders approached the final points race Viviani led Cavendish by a small but defendable margin. The Italian then spent the race closely marking the Briton so that he was unable to close the gap. Hansen recovered enough points in the final race to win bronze and nearly catch Cavendish for silver.