Hoy unstoppable in keirin

By Rob Jones in Beijing

Day two on the track saw three medal finals, with Great Britain continuing to dominate the standings by winning medals in every final, including two golds, a silver and two bronzes. One of those came from Chris Hoy, who was unstoppable in the keirin, on his way to a second gold medal in two days.

In both of his first two rides he got to the front of the group and behind the pace bike, and then just upped the pace when the moto swung off until he had burned everyone off his wheel.

The final consisted of Hoy, his team-mate Ross Edgar, Arnaud Tournant (France), Shane Kelly (Australia), Carsten Bergemann (Germany) and Kiyofumi Nagai (Japan). Among the big names not making it through were the Dutch riders Theo Bos (crash) and Teun Mulder, plus Gregory Bauge (France) and defending Olympic champion Ryan Bayley (Australia).

In the final, Edgar got the front spot, and then eased back to let Hoy in. Shortly before the pacer pulled off, Edgar let a gap open to Hoy at the front, helping Hoy to launch the winning move. Edgar then followed that up with a come from behind ride past Nagai to take the silver. Nagai, who gave up a lucrative pro keirin career in Japan, took the bronze medal.

"We knew coming in that if I got the front and got the [moto] bike, I would open up a spot for Chris," said Edgar. "He can go long and I can protect, and then go for my own finish. I got boxed in a bit and had a bit of a shoulder rub with Shane [Kelly]. But I squeezed through and was down the track after Chris."

"It's beyond expectations, I think this is a race I'll remember for a long time," said Hoy. "It's just fantastic that Ross got silver as well. I left it a little later than normal, because I knew that if I went full gas they might pass me. I had to think about the finish like nothing else."

See Cyclingnews' full coverage of the Olympic men's keirin.