Madison, Men

The Madison was ridden over 50 km. (200 laps) with 10 sprints held every 20 laps. The heavy favorites were 2008 World Champions, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain. Cavendish had won four sprint stages at the 2008 Tour de France, while Wiggins would win gold in both pursuit races in Beijing. The race was a low-scoring affair, with Argentina, Spain, and Russia gaining an early lap on the other 13 teams and contesting the medals, Argentina winning gold with 8 points, to 7 for Spain, and 6 for Russia. Spain was led by Juan Llaneras, winner of the gold medal in the 2008 points race (and the 2000 points race), while Russia was led by the 2004 points race gold medalist, Mikhail Ignatyev.

Argentina’s Juan Esteban Curuchet was competing in his sixth Olympics, at 43-years-old, but this was his first Olympic medal. He and his partner, Walter Pérez, had won the World Championship in 2004. Cavendish and Wiggins missed the winning breakaways, and finished only ninth.

Llaneras was riding with Antonio Tauler. His primary partner in the past few years had been Isaac Gálvez, with whom he had won the Worlds in 1999 and 2006. In November 2006, he Llaneras and Gálvez entered the Six Days of Ghent but in that race, Gálvez crashed and hit the railing, dying from his injuries. Distraught, Llaneras promptly retired from racing, only to return in mid-2007.