‘F*ck them’: Furious Danish cyclist slammed for screaming at floored Brit after ploughing into him amid Olympic race chaos (VIDEO)

A livid Danish cyclist has been accused of not looking at the track amid calls for his team to be ousted from the gold medal race at the Olympic Games, where he screamed at his British rival after crashing into him from behind.

A level of acrimony had already fallen over the contest to decide which team would advance to the men's team pursuit final, with several teams complaining that the Danes' use of shin tape broke rules outlawing riders from applying anything to their skin which is not clothing.

In the race, Team GB went ahead early on before being pegged back by the impressive Danes, who had set a record earlier in the competition that was subsequently beaten by Italy, in a closely-fought race.

Team GB's hopes ended in hugely controversial style. Charlie Tanfield fell back from his team – by then reduced to three riders – and was being tightly tailed by his opponents when Frederik Madsen smashed into the back of the 24-year-old, sending him hurtling to the floor.

While most viewers squarely blamed Madsen for appearing not to be looking ahead, the apparently incensed rider shouted and gestured at the grounded Tanfield, and was widely reported to have barked "f*ck them" at the British team as part of a bizarre tirade.

Governing body the UCI spent around 30 minutes deliberating over whether winners Denmark should have been allowed to progress to the final as a result of the shocking incident.

©  Matthew Childs / Reuters

"We don't do anything in bad faith," Madsen said after the result was confirmed, causing some viewers to reproduce photos of the multiple World Cup medalist standing over Tanfield raging.

"I'm so tired at that point. I didn't know if he was 10 meters or 20 meters away from me at that point.

"I hope Charlie's OK. I wasn't shouting at Charlie, just at the situation."

The BBC was forced to apologize to UK viewers after catching the expletives on their live early morning broadcast of the action, while Olympic champion Sir Chris Foy led the condemnation of Madsen.

"As the lead rider in the team, you always have to keep your eyes on the team you're pursuing," said Foy.

"It's called the pursuit for good reason. He clearly wasn't looking."

Viewers variously described Madsen's behavior as "disgraceful", "reckless", "bang out of order" and "really unpleasant", while some drew parallels between the rivalry that emerged between England and Denmark when they met in the semifinals of this summer's Euro 2020 football tournament.

"I'm reading the tweets from all the Danes reckoning that Frederick Madsen trying to cycle through Charlie Tanfield makes up for Sterling's 'dive' in the Euros," said one, referencing the foul on Manchester City striker Raheem Sterling that earned a decisive penalty for England when the teams met at Wembley Stadium.

"I'm now really worried about Danish conceptions of personal space."

Denmark will face Italy in the gold medal race, leaving Team GB to take on Switzerland in their non-medal finale.