Australia will ride off for the men's team pursuit bronze medal after another night of high drama in Olympic track cycling.
It took well over an hour for race judges to determine Wednesday's gold and bronze medal rides, after Danish rider Frederik Madsen collided with Great Britain's Charlie Tanfield near the end of the fourth and final heat.
That came the day after Australian Alex Porter had face-planted into the track at 65km/h when the handlebars inexplicably snapped off his bike in qualifying.
The Danes were winning easily and on target for the gold medal ride-off, but Madsen had his head down and appeared not to realise Tanfield had dropped well off the back of the British paceline.
Tanfield had been brought in as a late replacement for three-time team pursuit gold medallist Ed Clancy, who announced his retirement after a back injury had flared up in qualifying.
Neither Denmark nor Great Britain recorded a finishing time, sparking chaos and confusion at the Izu Velodrome.
Eventually, Denmark was awarded the win and will ride off for gold against Italy, who broke the world record in their heat win over New Zealand.
Australia will go up against New Zealand for the bronze medal and Great Britain, winners of the last three Olympic gold in the event, will ride off for seventh place.
New Zealand will start favourites after posting a quicker time in their heat.
Italy broke Denmark's world record with three minutes 42.307 seconds and the New Zealanders also went under the old mark with 3:42.397.
Australia, who eventually qualified fifth-fastest on Monday when they were given a re-start, brought in Luke Plapp to replace Porter as he nurses friction burns on his face.
Plapp, Leigh Howard, Sam Welsford and Kelland O'Brien clocked 3:44.902 in their easy win over Switzerland - the fastest Australia has ridden in the event.
Also on Tuesday night, Australia was denied bronze in the men's team sprint after qualifying third-fastest and also posting the third-fastest time in the opening round.
Matthew Glaetzer, the third rider in their combination behind Matthew Richardson and Nathan Hart, struggled at the end of the bronze medal ride against France.
Australia posted 44.013 as France won in 42.331, while favourites The Netherlands easily beat Great Britain for the gold medal in a Games record time of 44.589.
France also beat Australia for the bronze in Rio.
"It's a tough one, for sure, we came here with the hopes of winning a medal and some days you have days like this," Richardson said.
"Everyone knows how hard it is for man three."
Australia finished fifth in the women's team pursuit, again their same result at the Rio Games.
They improved markedly on their second-last qualifying time on Monday, but it was only enough for fifth-fastest in the heats and that put them out of the bronze medal ride.
Annette Edmondson, Georgie Baker, Maeve Plouffe and Alex Manly narrowly beat Italy in the ride-off for fifth place, their same result as the Rio Olympics.
Germany broke the world record again - the fourth time it has fallen in the last two days - beating Great Britain for the gold medal.
The Germans reduced the world mark to 4:04.242 to break the British stranglehold on the event.
The United States, coached by Australian Gary Sutton, beat Canada for the bronze medal.
Australian Associated Press
