By Shiho Tanaka
IZU, Japan (Reuters) -The Netherlands claimed the gold medal in the Olympic men’s team sprint at the Izu Velodrome on Tuesday, outclassing three-times defending champions Britain with a dominant display in the final.
The Dutch trio of Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland stepped up their intensity over the final two laps to secure victory in an Olympic record time of 41.369 seconds, over three seconds ahead of Britain.
Jason Kenny, the sole British rider left from their last three Olympic triumphs, was left with far too much work to do going into the final lap and was forced to settle for silver alongside team mates Ryan Owens and Jack Carlin.
Kenny claimed an eighth medal to become Britain’s most decorated Olympian.
He drew level with fellow cyclist Bradley Wiggins, but has one more gold medal (six) to his name than his former team mate.
In the third place decider, the French team of Florian Grengbo, Sebastien Vigier and Rayan Helal defeated Australia to secure their second consecutive Olympic bronze in the discipline.
(Reporting by Shiho Tanaka; Writing by Hardik Vyas, editing by Ed Osmond)
