Team Ireland’s Lara Gillespie and Alice Sharpe finished 11th overall with three points in the women’s madison final at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome today.
The race was won by the Italian double Vittoria Guazzini and Chiara Consonni, with Great Britain claiming silver and the Netherlands finishing off the podium.
Afterwards, Lara Gillespie said: “It was really full on from the start.
“We didn’t panic but we did use a lot of energy I think getting into positioning at the start but then we held our own and calmed down and did score a few points at the end, in the last 20 laps the effort really started to kick in.
“A little bit disappointed with that but it is an Olympic final at the end of the day and 11th place is pretty savage.
“It took a lot to even qualify and get to the Games so we can be proud of the effort and look forward to the next time.”
What is the madison race?
The Madison race is a marathon-like track cycling event that involves teams of two cycling 120 laps against each other with a sprint lap every 10 laps in which points are awarded for first, second and third past the post in each sprint lap.
Any team that gains a lap on the main bunch earns 20 points, while 20 points are deducted for anyone lapped by the bunch.
The team with the most points at the end of the 120 laps is the winner.
Alice Sharpe said: “The race is so chaotic and there’s so many teams doing different things, you kind of have to have a strategy but need to adapt and overcome during the race.
“Yes, it went to plan but I think we would have liked to score a few more points but, as Lara said, it’s an Olympic final and I don’t think we can be too disappointed.”
Gillespie will be the final Irish athlete competing at the Olympic Games as she takes on the Women’s Omnium at the velodrome on Sunday.
