Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal secure medal as Martin Gordon and Eoin Mullen set national record

The pair clung on to second after a controversial end to the event in Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome that saw a fancied French bike disqualified after one of the riders became unclipped, much to the dissatisfaction of the home crowd.

The French bike stopped after the unclipping but under rules, only a mechanical fault can see a race restarted.

That meant a British team went around the velodrome on their own and their time wasn’t good enough knock the Irish bike out of second, thus securing at least a silver.

Afterwards, the emotion on the faces of Dunlevy and McCrystal were clear in what is their last day as a pair ahead of McCrystal’s retirement. The duo have been together for more than ten years, winning races and medals all over the world.

“I think we’re just shocked, we had a lot of pressure entering that race,” Dunlevy said. “We don’t have a lot of track time compared to the others, we knew we were against the three GB bikes there.

“I think we did the best ride…