| Event: | Men's team pursuit |
| Games: | 2020 Summer |
| Venues: | Izu Velodrome |
| Dates: | 2–4 August 2021 |
| Competitors: | 37 |
| Nations: | 8 |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Win Value: | 3:42.032 WR |
| Gold: | Simone Consonni Filippo Ganna Francesco Lamon Jonathan Milan |
| Goldnoc: | ITA |
| Silver: | Lasse Norman Hansen Niklas Larsen Frederik Rodenberg Rasmus Pedersen |
| Silvernoc: | DEN |
| Bronze: | Kelland O'Brien Sam Welsford Leigh Howard Luke Plapp Alexander Porter |
| Bronzenoc: | AUS |
| Prev: | 2016 |
| Next: | 2024 |
The men's team pursuit event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 2 to 4 August 2021 at the Izu Velodrome.[1] 32 cyclists (8 teams of 4) from 8 nations competed.[2]
This was the 25th appearance of the event, which has been held at every Summer Olympics since its introduction in 1908 except for 1912, when no track cycling was held.
The reigning Olympic champions were Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Owain Doull, and Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain; Great Britain had won the last three Olympic events (with Clancy on the team for all three, Wiggins for the first and third, and Burke for the last two). The reigning (2020) World Champions were Lasse Norman Hansen, Julius Johansen, Frederik Rodenberg, and Rasmus Pedersen of Denmark.
In a particularly competitive event in 2021, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy, and Germany were all tipped to challenge British dominance in the event.[3]
See main article: Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 1 team of 4 cyclists in the team pursuit. Quota places are allocated to the NOC, which selects the cyclists. Qualification was entirely through the 2018–20 UCI nation rankings. The eight top nations in the rankings qualify for the team pursuit event. These nations also automatically qualified a team in the Madison.[2] Because qualification was complete by the end of the 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on 1 March 2020 (the last event that contributed to the 2018–20 rankings), qualification was unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A team pursuit race involves two teams of four cyclists. Each team starts at opposite sides of the track. There are two ways to win: finish 16 laps (4 km) before the other team does or catch the other team. The time for each team is determined by the third cyclist to cross the finish line; the fourth cyclist does not need to finish.
The tournament consists of three rounds:[4] [5]
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)[6]
| Date | Time | Round | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 August | 17:02 | Qualifying | |
| 3 August | 16:22 | First round | |
| 4 August | 17:45 | Finals |
| Rank | Country | Cyclists | Result[7] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3:45.014 | OR | |||
| 2 | 3:45.895 | ||||
| 3 | 3:46.079 | ||||
| 4 | 3:47.507 | ||||
| 5 | 3:48.448 | ||||
| 6 | 3:50.455 | ||||
| 7 | 3:50.830 | ||||
| 8 | 3:51.514 |
| Rank | Heat | Country | Cyclists | Result[8] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3:42.307 | , WR | |||
| 2 | 4 | |||||
| 3 | 3 | 3:42.397 | ||||
| 4 | 2 | 3:44.902 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | 3:46.769 | ||||
| 6 | 1 | 3:48.861 | ||||
| 7 | 2 | 3:49.111 | ||||
| 8 | 4 | 4:28.489 |
Denmark caught the team from Great Britain, thereby advancing to the Gold Medal final, but did not record a time as their third rider crashed into the caught third British rider, who had lost contact to the front two of his team.[9]
| Rank | Country | Cyclists | Result[10] | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold medal final | |||||
| 3:42.032 | WR | ||||
| 3:42.198 | |||||
| Bronze medal final | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| Fifth place final | |||||
| 5 | 3:46.324 | ||||
| 6 | 3:50.023 | ||||
| Seventh place final | |||||
| 7 | 3:45.636 | ||||
| 8 | 3:50.041 | ||||