Italians take Olympic gold after hectic race
Lara Gillespie of Team Ireland, centre, during the women’s madison final at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Velodrome during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Despite being in relative contention in the middle stages of the madison race at the Paris Olympics, the Irish team of Wicklow’s Lara Gillespie and her teammate Alice Sharpe had to settle for 11th place at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on Friday afternoon.
The madison is a relay event race in pairs like a tag team with one rider competing while the other recovers by riding slowly around the top of the track, before the changeover via a ‘hand sling’ from their team-mate. It’s a 120-lap, 30km points race with a sprint every ten laps and the potential to make big points gains by lapping the main group.