2024 UCI Track Champions League gets off to exhilarating start in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

The 2024 UCI Track Champions League kicked off with a bang in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, as the Paris Olympics velodrome welcomed back the world’s top track cyclists for a thrilling opening evening of non-stop action, sponsored by CIC. 

Almost 4,000 spectators watched on in awe as Katie Archibald (Great Britain), Dylan Bibic (Canada), Emma Finucane (Great Britain) and Matthew Richardson (Great Britain) became the first riders to sport the coveted blue leaders’ jerseys after taking the lead in their respective categories.  

Archibald enjoyed a picture-perfect opening night of the season, winning both the Women’s Scratch and Elimination races to soar to the top of the Women’s Endurance standings, putting her in pole position to defend her title.  

For Richardson, it was a stunning start to life in GB colours, as he too claimed the maximum 40 points on offer in the Men’s Sprint competition by winning the Sprint and Keirin races.  

Finucane topped off a near-flawless night for Great Britain, topping the Women’s Sprint standings with victory in the Sprint race and a second place in the Keirin, which was won by an utterly dominant Alina Lysenko (AIN) on her debut in the UCI Track Champions League.  

In the Men’s Endurance competition Bibic came out on top in the Scratch race, with a fourth place in a hard-fought Elimination race – won in decisive fashion by Will Perrett (Great Britain) – enough to put him back in the leader’s jersey and on course to defend his 2023 title.  

HOW THE ACTION UNFOLDED 

The packed crowd in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines were treated to an exhilarating start to the medal events, with a Women’s Scratch race exploding into action with just six laps to go.  

Olivija Baleisyte (Lithuania) took advantage of a lull in pace to burst off the front, building up an advantage of nearly half a lap over the field going into the closing stages of the race. Anna Morris (Great Britain) reeled her in and looked to have the win in the bag as the final lap began, but team-mate Katie Archibald (Great Britain) timed her move to perfection, overtaking Morris down the home straight. She just held off resurgent rival Anita Stenberg (Norway) to win on her return to UCI Track Champions League action, with Mia Griffin (Ireland) taking third place on her debut in the competition.  

The Men’s Scratch race followed the same script, as Dylan Bibic (Canada) got his title defence in the Men’s Endurance category off to a dream start. He triumphed over home favourite Clément Petit (France) in a reduced sprint for the line after a select group of five riders escaped with a handful of laps to go, with the former Scratch UCI World champion Bibic taking the win from Petit and Keegan Hornblow (New Zealand) in third. 

The first shock of the day happened in the Women’s Sprint, with Olympic champion Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) knocked out in the semi-finals by Martha Bayona (Colombia) to set up a tantalising final against UCI World Champion Emma Finucane (Great Britain). Bayona led from the start with the rainbow jersey lurking behind her, but it was Finucane who edged a tightly contested race. She swept down from the top of the track to swing around the Colombian in the home straight and take an early lead in the overall Sprint competition, with Andrews nine points behind her.  

The Men’s Sprint saw the return of one of track cycling’s biggest-ever rivalries, as Harrie Lavreysen (the Netherlands) faced Matthew Richardson (Great Britain). The two had both dominated their heats and semi-finals but Richardson was securely in control in the final, launching from high up the track and powering past Lavreysen with a lap to go. The 16-time UCI World Champion was completely overwhelmed and peeled off in the closing stages. 

There was a shock in the Women’s Elimination as Archibald’s biggest rival, Anita Stenberg, was knocked out relatively early, becoming the tenth rider to exit the race. Archibald took full advantage of her rival’s elimination to go on to win, doubling up on race victories in Round 1 and bagging the full 40 points available. Just behind her Yareli Acevedo (Mexico) enjoyed a dream debut, going on the attack in the penultimate sprint to knock out Neah Evans (Great Britain). The 17 points for her second place saw Acevedo leap up the Endurance competition standings to second, behind Archibald in prime position and just above Stenberg in third overall. 

It was a good start for Bibic in the Men’s Elimination as several of his major rivals were eliminated early, including Petit, Grant Koontz (USA) and Hornblow. But the Canadian was in trouble several times and finished fourth, with another of his major rivals Lindsay de Vylder (Belgium) coming third. The home crowd went wild as youngster Oscar Nilsson-Julien (France) went head-to-head with Will Perrett for the win, but the Brit came storming around him in the final lap to claim his first win in the UCI Track Champions League since 2022. The pair’s brilliant Endurance race saw them round out the podium for the overall, with Nilsson-Julien second behind Bibic after Round 1 and Perrett third. 

The first night of 2024 UCI Track Champions League action concluded with the Keirin races. Ellesse Andrews’ disappointing start to the 2024 UCI Track Champions League continued as she was knocked out in her keirin heat, leaving her with a mountain to climb to defend her overall Sprint title from 2023. And it was Alina Lysenko’s time to shine as she powered away in the final, winning by several bike lengths from Emma Finucane and third-placed Steffie van der Peet (the Netherlands). Lysenko’s victory crowned a new star in women’s sprinting, but it was an established star – Finucane – who topped the standings overall, followed by Lysenko and Bayona, with Andrews down in 10th place.  

In the Men’s Keirin it came down to another battle between Matthew Richardson and Harrie Lavreysen, with both riders having dominated their heats. Spectators expected a closely fought battle but as the Brit soared past his Dutch rival he even had time to celebrate before the line, capping off a spectacular evening by winning by a bike length and reaching a whopping top speed of 77.1km/h, with Kevin Quintero (Colombia) rounding off the podium in third. Richardson topped the overall standings, with Lavreysen six points behind and Nicholas Paul (Trinidad and Tobago) 14 points back in third.

ALL THE REACTION FROM ROUND 1  

Women's Endurance leader and Scratch and Elimination race winner Katie Archibald (Great Britain) said: “I’m really happy, it was a night of quite scrappy racing from me. It’s garnered the result but there’s lots that I want to finesse – I want to stay on the top step but maybe with some nicer tactics! You have to race with confidence, the only way to get the best result is with a confident mindset. It’s hard to convince yourself of that but now I can go into the next round with genuine confidence.” 

Men’s Endurance leader and Scratch race winner Dylan Bibic (Canada) said: “It’s a good feeling, being in the jersey early on like this, but I’m going to have a target on my back. It was a very hard Elimination, I was going 100%, I had nothing left. That was all-out – the Scratch race, I won that with my tactics and not my legs, I just followed the right wheels at the right time. These guys are strong, so you guys are in for a very good show!”

Women’s Sprint leader and Sprint race winner Emma Finucane (Great Britain) said: “I can’t believe it; I didn’t really know where I’d be at coming into this weekend and I just really wanted to enjoy it. To be wearing this [blue leader’s jersey] for the first time ever, it’s really cool. I want to take it race by race, focus on each round as it comes and not focus on the outcome, but I’m obviously going to try to keep this for as long as I can!” 

Men’s Sprint leader and Sprint and Keirin race winner Matthew Richardson (Great Britain) said: “To even get the opportunity to race a rider such as Harrie [Lavreysen], a 16-time UCI WorldCchampion, a phenomenal athlete, and to take wins away feels pretty sweet. Being in his home court next week is going to be an extra challenge, but if anything, it’ll make me want to win a little bit more. It’s amazing [racing and winning in GB colours], I was really trying to soak in the experience, but when the announcer called my name representing Great Britain, it was such a special feeling. It’s a dream come true really and to win every single race tonight was more than I could have ever wished for.”

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS, POWERED BY AWS 

A staple of the UCI Track Champions League from the very first edition, Katie Archibald is the second rider to break the 500-point barrier, after Harrie Lavreysen. The British star’s tally is up to 503 points after her perfect night in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. It’s the third time Archibald has won both her races in the same night, after she did so in Panevėžys in 2021 and Berlin in 2022. 

Defending winner of the men’s Endurance League Dylan Bibic propelled himself back to the top of the standings with a dominant performance in the Scratch race. The Canadian champion pushed at 1290 watts to power to victory in the final lap. To do so, his heart rate went up to 196 beats per minute, just over the maximum heart rate (195 bpm) he announced ahead of the UCI Track Champions League 2024. 

“I think I gave it all”, Mathilde Gros (France) said as she battled her way to 5th in the women’s keirin. And the numbers backed her claim - the French star hit her maximum heart rate - 205 bpm - to survive the first round, edging Olympic silver medallist Hetty van de Wouw (the Netherlands) in a photo-finish.

Matthew Richardson also went to his limit to achieve his best night in the UCI Track Champions League as illustrated by his maximum heart rate in the five races he won, pushing himself again and again: 192 bpm in the sprint first round, 193 bpm in the semi-final and 192 bpm in the final; 197 bpm in the first round of the keirin and 195 bpm in the final. The British star declared a potential max heart rate of 200 bpm.

The UCI Track Champions League returns next weekend for a double-header in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, with Round 2 on Friday, 29 November and Round 3 on Saturday, 30 November, both sponsored by Betcity.