Germany was champion, with 43, and Italy took the silver, with 34
The Portuguese Iúri Leitão and Rui Oliveira were this Sunday one point away from winning the bronze medal in Madison at the European track cycling championships, which ended today in Grenchen, Switzerland.
After a race made at high speed, the decision of the medals was for the final sprint, in which the Portuguese duo scored six points, which left them with 31, just one from France, world champion and that was third in the Europeans. Germany was crowned champion, with 43, and Italy took the silver medal, with 34.
The two Portuguese made the first attack with 137 laps to go and, although they didn’t manage to get around the peloton, they managed to win three sprints and add 15 points.
Iúri Leitão and Rui Oliveira tried again to leave the peloton with 30 laps to go, joining Italy at the front, managing to win two more sprints and get the second place in the final sprint, which was worth double, to get six more points. “We did an excellent race and both Iúri and Rui did very well. The race was very hard, very demanding, and I’m very proud of the work they did. They demonstrated the quality of Portugal and its racers, and we left our mark in this European championship. We leave here motivated to keep working and to evolve even more”, said the Portuguese selector Gabriel Mendes.
Portugal won two medals in the Europeans of Grenchen, with the gold of Maria Martins in scratch and the silver of Rui Oliveira in pursuit. “I would say that we did an excellent championship and that we met the goals we had set. We finished all the endurance races in the top 10 and still won two medals. In addition, Rodrigo Caixas significantly improved his mark in the individual pursuit, which was very positive. We always want to do better and we will continue to progress in that direction”, said Gabriel Mendes.
