Dan Bigham and GB take silver in dramatic team pursuit
Dan Bigham left the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome on Wednesday night holding a silver medal and the kind of “what if” moment which can haunt you for a lifetime.
For 3,700 metres of the 4,000m men’s team pursuit final, the Stone cycling star and team-mates Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon and Ethan Hayter gave new world record holders Australia everything they could handle in their battle for Olympic gold.
Heading into the final bend of the penultimate lap, the gap was less than two-tenths of a second. Australia were just ahead, just as they had been for most of the contest. But GB were right in the mix.
Then, disaster struck. Hayter, legs burning having spent five straight laps on the front, slipped off the front of his saddle as he looked to pull off and let Tanfield take up the final push.
In that split-second, the gold medal was gone.
Australia, probably, would have held on. It was the most likely outcome. The frustration lies in the fact we will never truly know.
Bigham, roared on by his family from the stands and who was quickly over to greet his one-year-old son Theo, certainly felt disappointment mixed in with the pride.
