On Tuesday, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines was once again buzzing with the battle for medals in the men's sprint. The Netherlands consolidated their dominance in the discipline and on the velodrome by winning gold in style, their time of 41.191 setting a world record and, logically, an Olympic record. 

The reigning 2023 World Champions and top favourites did not disappoint in an unforgettable duel with Great Britain, another track cycling powerhouse. They pushed them to the limit. Thanks to this close competition, the records will go down in history.

Roy Van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland made up the Dutch team. They literally flew to victory after conserving their energy during the qualifying rounds and saving their best for the final.

The Dutch team rode at nearly 66 kilometres per hour to secure the win. Great Britain took silver. Australia took bronze, beating France for third place.

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the flagship of the French Cycling Federation, whose headquarters have been based at the velodrome since its inauguration in 2014, once again saw a large turnout of fans eager to see the cyclists perform. Tuesday's programme featured two sessions: a morning session with the men's sprint qualifiers, following Great Britain's gold medal win in the women's event the day before. In the afternoon there were the pursuit qualifiers, culminating in the men's team sprint final as night fell and the medals were up for grabs.

The day before, Great Britain's women's team of Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane achieved glory. They broke the world record by beating New Zealand. The British victory broke the deadlock with the Netherlands for the title. This made the men's duel even more exciting.

This year the women's sprint was changed from two to three riders to match the men's event. The British were the first to win the new format.

The British men wanted to repeat that success. However, they were up against the Dutch, the kings of the discipline, who were determined not to go home without glory.

In the end, the predictions came true: The Netherlands defeated Great Britain and Australia joined the favourites on the podium. France finished fourth. Japan won the battle for fifth and sixth place against Germany. In the final duel for the last two places, seventh and eighth, China edged out Canada.