By Martyn Herman
SAINT QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (Reuters) – France’s Benjamin Thomas recovered from a late crash to win gold in a pulsating Olympic men’s omnium race and send the home fans wild inside the National Velodrome on Thursday.
Former world champion Thomas won the scratch race, the first of the four events that make up the omnium, and scored heavily in the elimination race.
As is usual with the multi-event omnium, the final points race would decide the gold and Thomas was involved in a fierce tussle with Portugal’s world champion Iuri Leitao.
Just as Thomas got to the top of the leaderboard he lost control of his bike and slid down the track.
He calmly checked himself over though and re-joined the race with holes in his skin suit.
With the crowd roaring him on he managed to stay on the wheel of Leitao, who made a late dash for gold, and could begin celebrating as he rounded the last corner knowing he had an unassailable lead in the points standings.
Belgium’s Fabio van den Bossche completed the podium with bronze, just ahead of Spain’s fast-finishing Albert Torres.
Leitao became the first Portuguese to win an Olympic medal in track cycling.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond)
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