A gold awaited 20 years: Elia Viviani brings Italian track cycling back into the Olympic elite, putting the most precious metal around his neck four years after the most atrocious hoax of his career, when in London he finished from first to sixth in the last round of the omnium in London, from the dream of a podium close at hand to the nightmare of an Olympic medal in front of his nose.
This time, however, the cyclist from Veneto did it, maintaining the first position until the end, after a heroic race, during which he also crashed risking compromising the podium. And this time the great rival Mark Cavendish, who stole the world title from Viviani with a mock sprint five months ago in London, and the outgoing champion Lasse Norman Hansen were defeated.
With this sensational gold the Italian medal table is further enriched, which is now seriously approaching the 28 medals of London 2012: the golds are already equaled (8 with that of Viviani), the total medals are 23 thanks also to the silver won in the afternoon by the swimmer Rachele Bruni, who finished second in the 10 km cross-country race. In all there are 9 silvers, 6 bronzes.
