Shari Bossuyt was crowned the new Madison World Champion tonight in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. Partnering with fellow Belgian Lotte Kopecky, the duo won in spectacular fashion.

“Our plan was always to wait and take a lap towards the end of the race,” explained Shari.

At the halfway mark of the 120-lap race, the pair had zero points and trailed eventual silver placegetters, France, by more than 20 points. A chaotic but exciting event, the race was thrown into disarray with an early neutralisation for low light on the back straight, and several crashes. As the race went into the final moments, Shari and Kopecky made their move to take a lap and in doing so, also claimed maximum points in two sprints. It catapulted the pair into the gold medal position, and despite the efforts of the France and Denmark teams, they held on to win the rainbow title by a mere one point.

“We knew that we had to not go over the limit when we took the lap, but the race was so hard,” said Shari.

“They announced France had overtaken us in the final sprint and we finished second. We were so disappointed to lose by one point. But then all of a sudden our coach was yelling from the track inside we had won. It was such a crazy mix of emotions. I’m so happy but I still can’t believe it!”

Facebook

Twitter