Elia Viviani’s Olympic gold medal hopes seemed to have vanished in a tangle of legs and carbon fibre after a crash during the finale of the men’s omnium but the Italian recovered to claim an emotional victory on Monday. Clambering back to his feet after the mid-race mayhem that left South Korea’s Park Sanghoon in hospital, Viviani kept his wits about him during the rest of the 160-lap points race — the sixth and final element of the two-day event.
Britain’s Mark Cavendish, culpable for the crash, chipped away at Viviani’s lead in the standings, as did charging 2012 champion Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark, but Viviani showed admirable composure in the heat of an attritional battle. After winning the penultimate sprint, Viviani knew gold was his, barring a last-gasp attack by Cavendish or Hansen. As it turned out, he rode the last 10 laps out in front, leaving Britain’s Cavendish to take the silver 13 points adrift and Hansen the bronze a further two back.
He grabbed an Italian tricolore for a lap of honour and after climbing off his bike, Viviani, a road cyclist for Team Sky, burst into tears.
He was the first Italian to win an Olympic track cycling gold medal since 1996. “For sure it was a bad moment in the race. When I saw the Korean guy in front of me go down I thought ‘No chance. I’m going down’,” the 27-year-old told reporters. “I got back on the bike. My adrenaline went up so I was really ready. I really enjoyed the last 10 laps. It was the race of my life.”
He graciously did not blame Cavendish for the crash — saying it was normal even though the Tour de France great speared his bike into Park’s coming out of a corner. “I should look where I’m going,” said Cavendish, who had a nervous wait to make sure he had not been penalised before he could savour a long-awaited Olympic medal.
“It was my fault. I hope he’s all right. I apologised to Elia after he went down.” Going into the points race, where riders contest a sprint every 10 laps to claim points, Viviani led by 16 from Cavendish.
Hansen then launched an attack and lapped the field, resulting in a 20-point bonus, as did world champion Fernando Gaviria who paid later when cramps ended his medal charge. As Park was loaded on to a stretcher the race was neutralised, giving Viviani the chance to recover from his fall and Hansen to get a breather.
Cavendish, who has 30 Tour de France stage wins including four this year but suffered Olympic heartache in 2008 and 2012, was the thoroughbred sprinter in the field. When he won the 12th sprint it seemed he could mount a late charge but his challenge faded. The Manx Missile was left to rue Sunday’s elimination race when an error of judgement cost him points. “I gave everything I had, I couldn’t give any more, so I have to be happy,” Cavendish said. “Elia was strongest in all races, so hats off to the win. I am disappointed it wasn’t enough to win.”

Brits remain on course to match cycling gold haul
Britain’s dominant track cycling team remained on course to match their previous seven-title Olympic hauls on the final day of the Games competition in Rio yesterday. Both in London four yeas ago and Beijing in 2008, the British track team picked up seven of the 10 gold medals on offer.  With four more in the bank and three still to be decided, Britain were on course to hit the magic seven once again.
Laura Trott, already a gold medallist with the women’s team pursuit, leads the omnium with two disciplines left after finishing second in the morning time-trial to extend her lead over Belgium’s Jolien d’Hoore to 12 points.
Both Becky James, the keirin silver medallist, and Katy Marchant made it into the women’s sprint semi-finals. They were the top two qualifiers and haven’t put a foot wrong yet, setting up the possibility of another all-British final following that of the men’s.
Men’s sprint champion Jason Kenny is also on course in the keirin having reached the semi-finals by comfortably winning his heat. But there wasn’t such good news for sprint silver medallist Callum Skinner who was relegated after crossing over into another rider’s lane, knocking him out of the semi-finals.
Kenny has already won two gold medals at these Games – the other alongside Skinner in the team sprint – and has five in total.  Britain have already won the men’s and women’s team pursuit, men’s team sprint and men’s sprint at these Games.
Britain now has 67 Olympic medals in track cycling, moving ahead of France on the all-time list