PARIS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Italy won gold in the women's Madison race at the Olympic velodrome on Friday, with their duo of Victoria Guazzini and Chiarra Consonni claiming 37 points in the race ahead of Britain's duo of Neah Evans and Elinor Barker with 31.
The Netherlands took bronze with 28 points after the British duo claimed the sprint finish in the last lap of the race to take 10 decisive points.
Italy won thanks to a 20-point bonus for lapping the field with a powerful sprint earlier in the race.
"It's really hard to find the words in this moment. We don't believe it," said Guazzini afterwards, adding that she was delighted to bounce back after Italy missed out on a medal in the team pursuit.
"We showed that we are a great team. We fought until the end," she said.
Madison is a complicated race to follow as 15 two-person teams are involved in a series of intermediate sprints held every 10 laps with 5, 3, 2 and 1 point awarded for the first four teams over the line.
The race is over a distance of 30 kilometers (120 circuits of the 250-meter track), with only one rider riding at pace at any time. That sees riders launch their companions when they change over the designated rider, with one group riding at race speed, while the riders in the other look to rest their legs for decisive sprints or attempts to lap the field.
Silver medalist Evans admitted the race could be "so unpredictable", but said she and Barker had "stuck to the plan pretty well" although they were surprised the Italians had been able to steal their vital lap.
"It's really rare for a lap to go and stick," she said, but was nevertheless delighted with silver.
"To come away with a medal is huge because there's nothing guaranteed with the Madison. It's unorganized chaos. So we are delighted," said the British rider.
