New Zealand riders Greg Henderson (left) and Hayden Roulston slingshot during the men's madison final last night. Photo / Kenny Rodger
A brave but ultimately futile attempt at a medal in the madness of the madison ended New Zealand's most successful track cycling Olympic campaign last night.
Hayden Roulston and Greg Henderson were desperate to finish their Beijing Olympics with the country's third cycling medal of these Games, but
it was not to be. They finished 10th, their only points in the 50km, 200-lap event coming when they earned five points in the seventh of 10 sprint intermediates.
In last night's race at the Laoshan Velodrome, the surprise winners were Argentina, featuring 43-year-old Juan Esteban Curuchet, the oldest track cycling competitor, and teammate Walter Fernando Perez.
Russia were overtaken for silver by Spain on the final lap.
Roulston, who earned a silver in the individual pursuit on Saturday and bronze in the team pursuit on Monday, said he and Henderson had wanted to "finish on a bang".
"We didn't go down without a fight, we gave it a crack but it didn't work," he said. "It turns out we were more marked than we thought."
With Roulston already having won two medals and Henderson being a former track world champion and world cup winner, the pair's moves were covered.
Henderson, 31, competing in his fourth Olympics, won silver with Roulston in the madison at the 2003 world championships.
Henderson said their game plan had been to make one big break. When it was covered Henderson wanted to pull back and regroup for a second attempt but the message didn't get through.
"When you sling each other for two seconds, you can get a bit of miscommunication," he said. After 20 laps, their attack fizzled out and they were physically exhausted.
The Dunedite said he would now step away from the track for a couple of years to concentrate on getting a Tour de France ride with his Team Columbia. Watching good friend Mark Cavendish win four stages on this year's tour and set himself up for life had made him think "why not me?"
