27th November: The 2023 UCI Track Champions League culminated in a stunning style earlier this month, bringing the curtain down on five incredible rounds of racing. Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand), Katie Archibald (Great Britain), Dylan Bibic (Canada) and Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) emerged as champions, and as well as taking home the coveted blue jerseys, the quartet were also awarded a UCI Track Champions League trophy and €25,000 each in prize money.

Since the finale, we've been taking a deep dive into the data that was provided by Official Series Partner AWS to highlight the incredible achievements of those four athletes, and the performances they needed to produce to emerge at the top of the standings.

ELLESSE ANDREWS - WOMEN'S SPRINT WINNER:

Ellesse Andrews was competing in the UCI Track Champions League for the very first time and came into the series as one of the favourites having won her first Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Championships title in the Keirin last August.

The 23-year-old more than lived up to that billing, becoming the first-ever New Zealander to win an overall title in the UCI Track Champions League, and doing so with a record haul of 173 points out of a possible 200 in the Women's Sprint competition. That’s 33 points (or 23.6%) higher than the total number outgoing champion Mathilde Gros (France) amassed last season.

The Christchurch native won six of the 10 races she competed in over the season, with her 60% success rate being the best of any female athlete in the UCI Track Champions League, as was her average points tally of 17.3 (out of 20) per race.

The highest heart rate she recorded - 203 beats per minute (bpm) - came in her final race of the season, the Women's Keirin final of the Grand Finale in London. That figure is 12 bpm higher than the average maximum heart rate of a 23-year-old.

Ellesse Andrews' highest power outputs for this season were as follows:

- 1,487 watts during the first round of the Sprint in Round 4, London
- 1,480 watts during the first round of the Keirin in the Grand Finale, London
- 1,451 watts in the final of the Keirin in Round 4, London

With a power to weight ratio that is lower than many of her competitors, it is her incredible tactical skills that saw her rise to the top of the standings. Ellesse proved she could command a race better than her rivals over the five rounds of action whilst also being able to unleash an unstoppable late sprint of around 65kph (40 mph).

KATIE ARCHIBALD - WOMEN'S ENDURANCE WINNER:

Katie Archibald earned her place in the UCI Track Champions League history books back in 2021 when she was one of the four winners of the first-ever series. Despite winning five races last season, she was pipped to overall victory by the impressive Jennifer Valente (USA) but made amends for that by reclaiming the blue jersey in dominant style in 2023.

All four of her victories this term came in the Elimination, where she scooped up an incredible 95% of the maximum points up for grabs in that particular event. Over the last three seasons, Archibald has also won 11 of the 14 Elimination races in total - which translates to a success rate of 78.6% - and she has won 50% of the races she's entered - a stat only bettered by Harrie Lavreysen (see below).

The 29-year-old was arguably this season's most consistent performer as well, with her maximum heart rates all within the 180-187 bpm range. That peak of 187bpm came on her way to sealing second place in the Scratch in Mallorca, Spain.

The maximum heart rates she achieved in her four victories are as follows:

- 184 bpm during the Elimination in the Round 1, Mallorca
- 186 bpm during the Elimination in the Round 2, Berlin
- 183 bpm during the Elimination in the Round 3, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
- 185 bpm during the Elimination in the Round 4, London

The maximum heart rate for a 29-year old woman is around 187bpm, so like Ellesse Andrews, it is Archibald’s impressive race skills that set her apart from the rest.  

DYLAN BIBIC - MEN'S ENDURANCE WINNER:

At just 20 years old, Dylan Bibic became the youngest winner in the history of the UCI Track Champions League when he secured the overall Men's Endurance title on 11th November. The Canadian also set another record in that discipline, with his 131-point haul (out of a possible 200) beating former UCI Track Champions league champion Claudio Imhof's previous best total of 125. Bibic's average of 13.1 points per race (out of 20) meanwhile, represents a 79% improvement on his debut campaign in 2022.

No other Men's Endurance rider has ever won four races in a season either, and no other UCI Track Champions League series winner has ever hailed from Canada.

Bibic had to dig deeper than ever to defend his blue jersey. Despite not winning the Round 4 Scratch race, Bibic’s heart rate soared to 201bpm as he sprinted to second place behind Roy Eefting (Netherlands), one beat higher than the maximum heart rate he declared at the start of the season.

HARRIE LAVREYSEN - MEN'S SPRINT WINNER:

No rider in the history of the UCI Track Champions League has blazed a trail like Harrie Lavreysen has done. The Dutchman earned his second Men's Sprint title over three seasons by amassing an unprecedented points tally of 191 - which represented 95.5% of the entire points which were up for grabs. His seven race wins across the season also ushered in another high-water mark, and his lowest place finish in any of the 10 races he entered was second.

To date, since the series started in 2021, Lavreysen has achieved at least a top-three finish in 26 of the 28 races he's entered, and never finished below fourth.

He led the 2023 Men's Sprint standings from beginning to end and the 2,338 watts he recorded in the Sprint semi-final in Round 4 is the highest peak power ever recorded in the series. An output that can be compared to legendary road sprinter Mark Cavendish, whose maximum is ‘only’ 1,580 watts, a figure 32% less than Lavreysen’s.

His next highest power outputs for this season all came in London’s Grand Finale, and were as follows:

- 2,295 watts during the final of the Sprint
- 2,135 watts during the first round of the Sprint
- 2,122 watts during the final of the Keirin