On the second day of the track events at the Tokyo Olympics, Frederik Rodenberg Madsen of Denmark* was caught up by world record holder Charlie Tanfield in the men's team pursuit on the last lap, causing controversy.

Immediately after the incident, Rodenberg yelled at Tanfield, but later apologized for bumping the 24-year-old, saying: "I was very tired at the time and didn't know if he was 10 or 20 meters away."

Both teams were one man behind in the second half of the first 4000m round, and the winning team was entitled to a shot at gold in the final, while the losing team needed a time in the top four to advance to the bronze medal round.

Tanfield stalled in the last kilometer and was a quarter of a lap behind his teammate when Rodenberg led the Danish trio into the bell lap. Rodenberg, who appeared to have his head down, hit Tanfield and they were both thrown off the track.

"I knew I was getting close to both of them. I saw him half a lap before he hit Charlie and then all of a sudden he was much closer than I knew."

"I hope Charlie is okay. It's terrible that something like this could happen in the semifinals of the Olympics."

Both Denmark and Great Britain had only two riders left in the race, and the UCI rules state that "the race will end when the third rider from each team crosses the finish line for the final full distance, or in the case of a final, when one team (at least three riders riding together) has caught up with the other The race ends when the team catches up to the other team.

Tanfield got up and continued to run, recording a time of 4:28 for Great Britain. However, the jury panel determined that Denmark had overtaken Great Britain just before the crash when they made a catch-up move and advanced to the gold medal final against Italy.

Rodenberg was angry after the crash, but later said he did not shout out of spite for Tanfield.

"A lot of emotions ran through me and I just hoped he was okay," Rodenberg said.

"I didn't say anything to Charlie. I was basically yelling, not at Charlie, because I was frustrated with the situation. I'm not in the Olympics to crash into someone. I want the best for Charlie

"I don't want to be on the ground. I was just frustrated with the situation; I wasn't frustrated with him. He was doing his job and I was doing mine."

The UCI rules also state that "If one team catches the other team, the team that caught the other team is the winner and must stop as soon as possible so that the other team can complete the distance and record their time."

Officials are supposed to fire a pistol to signal a catch, but if a pistol is fired, the sound is muffled by the final lap bell, and Rodenberg said he did not know he had caught the third British competitor

"I honestly didn't know. I knew there was somebody half a lap before I hit him, I knew there was a GB player, I knew he was there, I knew he was there, I knew he was there. I didn't know if he was the third or the fourth, or the first or the second. Suddenly he was right in front of me and I couldn't react

"I'm just sorry and I just hope Charlie is okay."

Rodenberg also refuted British claims that the Danish team used kinesiology tape on their shins to gain an aerodynamic advantage.

"We don't do anything outside of the sport, like equipment or clothing. We just ride our bikes and do our own racing. That's our only job," Rodenberg said.

"I just do what the team tells me to do, and if you ask an F1 driver if he knows everything about the car, he doesn't. So we don't know anything about the equipment. Ask the team, not us."

*Corrected an older version that referred to Rodenberg as Madsen. Danish riders shorten their last name.