Great Britain’s Emily Kay and Emily Nelson teamed up for the women’s Madison and brought home a brilliant silver medal in a field of world-class endurance riders at the European track championships in Paris.
The British riders took the top points from the first two sprints of the 120 lap race, beating the Belgian duo of Lotte Kopecky and Jolien D’Hoore by a whisker.
As the race progressed the Netherlands team, containing multiple European gold medallist Kirsten Wild, the Belgains and the French pair joined Nelson and Kay at the top of the standings, and the lead changed hands several times.
The British team dropped into fourth place as the race came into the final 10 laps but a fantastic effort by both riders saw them take maximum points by winning the final sprint and take silver behind the excellent Belgian pairing.
"It was a tough race but we fought all the way so we're really happy to take silver," said Kay.
Nelson said: "I think we went a little bit big at the start and paid for it in the middle but we came back strong from fourth place."
Kay added that to have such a strong field at the first European women's Madison showed just how far women's cycling had come.
Silver medallists @EmilyKay95 and @EmilyNelson21 on their historic race - the first women's Madison at the track Euros #EuroTrack16 pic.twitter.com/P5qfCkGBFV
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) October 23, 2016
The men's race saw Ollie Wood and Mark Stewart pair up for Great Britain in a huge field of 17 teams.
After 100 laps, the British duo lost a lap but rejoined the main group to contest the sprint points and finished in 15th place.
Men’s keirin
Joe Truman looked to have benefitted from a day away from the track as he won his heat in the opening round of the men’s keirin.
With only one rider to progress from each heat, Jack Carlin just missed out on an automatic semi-final spot, as he finished a close second to Czech rider Tomas Babek.
Carlin qualified comfortably from the repechages to join Truman in the semi-finals.
Both British riders were drawn in the same heat and both chose to take up a position at the front of the line behind the derny.
Strong effort from @jack_carlin97 and @JoeTruman97 today for 6th and 7th in the Keirin
— Ryan Owens (@ryanowens0) October 23, 2016
Truman sprinted to second place to take his place in the final but Carlin was boxed on the final bend and crossed the line in fifth place.
Carlin went on the win the 7-12 final, while Truman could not find a way around the fast-finishing finalists and crossed the line in sixth place in his first elite level European keirin final.
We caught up with @JoeTruman97 - still smiling after competing in EVERY sprint event at #EuroTrack16 and taking home team sprint silver! pic.twitter.com/Pbpls2aXzY
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) October 23, 2016
