Julien Absalon successfully defended his Olympic title on seven laps of a tricky 4.5km loop at the Laoshan Cycling Centre near Beijing, adding a second gold medal to the one he won in Athens in 2004. It didn’t take Absalon long to stake his claim on the race, attacking on lap two and never being challenged for the lead. The strongest chaser was Absalon’s compatriot Jean-Christophe Peraud, who shook off the pack but couldn’t make inroads into Absalon’s lead. Absalon crossed the line over a minute ahead of his rival. There was a tight race for the bronze gong between Swiss riders Christoph Sauser and Nino Schurter, with Schurter outpacing Sauser in the closing stages.

And the Brits? Beijing was almost a repeat of Athens for medal hope Liam Killeen – a big crash right near the start left him winded, with a good dollop of ketchup on his knee and down in 48th place, but somehow he managed to haul himself all the way back up to seventh by the finish. It’s obviously a disappointing result for Killeen, who’s been focussing his efforts on the Olympics during his recovery from illness, but that’s a mighty ride. He’s clearly back on form, and we expect great things in 2009. Oli Beckinsale had a good race, too, with a career-best Olympic performance in 12th place.

The women’s race was a little tighter, but Germany’s Sabine Spitz was still 40 seconds clear of Polish rival Maja Wloszczowska. Irina Kalentyeva (Russia) picked up the bronze.