Points Race, Men

As in 1984-1988, the points race was raced over 30 km. in the heats and 50 km. in the final. Unlike those years, when only two riders finished the final on the same lap, the 21 finalists all finished on the same lap. The very fast pace prevented any breakaways that would allow a rider to gain a lap. Three riders – Giovanni Lombardi (ITA), Léon van Bon (NED), and Cédric Mathy (BEL) – came to the final lap sprint with a chance to win. Van Bon led with 41 points, followed by Lombardi with 38 and Mathy with 31. The final sprint gave 10 points to the winner, 6 to the runner-up and 4 and 2 to third- and fourth-place. Mathy had the best of the sprint, but Lombardi broke out of a late box to second, while van Bon dropped to fourth as Lombardi burst by. Van Bon and the Dutch fans celebrated, thinking he had won the race, but the final points were 44 for Lombardi, the gold medalist, and 43 for silver medalist van Bon.