OLYMPIC TRACK CYCLING REVIEW: LAVREYSEN DOMINATES WHILE ANDREWS ACHIEVES A GOLDEN DOUBLE AT THE SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES VELODROME

One man, Harrie Lavreysen, won a quarter of all the golds on offer – the reigning UCI Track Champions League men’s sprint champion dominating the men’s sprint formats (sprint, team sprint and keirin). But he wasn’t the only athlete to translate form from the five-round series onto the Olympic stage. New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews – winner of the 2023 UCI TCL women’s sprint competition – recorded two golds and a silver in the three sprint-focused formats, while 2022 UCI TCL women’s endurance winner Jennifer Valente successfully defended her omnium Olympic title and added another in the women’s team pursuit. 

It would have probably been even more for UCI TCL riders, but one not in contention in Paris was the reigning women’s endurance champion Katie Archibald – the two-time gold medalist injured by a freak accident weeks out from the games, which ruled her out of her third Olympics. 

It wasn’t just the podium places that were dominated by UCI TCL riders either, with many more qualifying for Paris 2024. 

Meanwhile, previous UCI TCL riders who skipped the 2023 series appeared to struggle on the boards at Paris 2024 – 2022 UCI TCL women’s sprint champion Mathilde Gros had an under-par Olympics in front of a partisan French crowd. 

From a keirin competition dominated by stars of the sprint competition to top-10 finishes across numerous formats, here’s who did what at this summer’s games.

LAVREYSEN AND ANDREWS DOMINATE INDIVIDUAL SPRINT

Harrie Levreysen won four out of five sprint rounds in the 2023 UCI TCL season to be crowned champion, and the Dutchman continued his imperious form at Paris 2024. 

The 27-year-old entered the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome as the reigning Olympic sprint champion and edged his closest competitor in the UCI TCL, Australia’s Matthew Richardson, in the gold medal head-to-head. If that wasn’t enough, he also set a new world record in qualifying – completing a flying 200m in 9.088s. 

Levreysen wasn’t the only UCI TCL champion to do it on the biggest stage either – New Zealand’s sprint champion Ellesse Andrews also clinched the women’s sprint title, out-sprinting UCI TCL alumnus Germany’s Lea Sophie Friedrich in a thrilling finale, while Team GB’s Emma Finucane beat Hetty van de Wouw for bronze. 

In a show of strength from the UCI TCL, all of the quarterfinalists for the women’s sprint title were either current or former competitors in the league – Sophie Capewell (GBR), Emma Hinze (GER), Martha Bayona (COL) and Kelsey Mitchell (CAN) finishing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

JEFFREY HOOGLAND AND LAVREYSEN HELP THE NETHERLANDS TO TEAM SPRINT GOLD, UCI TRACK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RIDERS PRESENT IN ALL WOMEN’S MEDALLISTS 

Prior to claiming his individual sprint win, Lavreysen and team-mate Hoogland had combined with Roy van den Berg to claim the Netherlands’ second consecutive gold in the men’s team sprint – eclipsing their own world record that they’d set in the semi-finals to beat Team GB by almost a second. Matthew Richardson meanwhile would be part of Australia’s bronze medal-winning trio. 

In the women’s team sprint, it was a clean sweep of medals for UCI TCL riders. Katy Marchant, Capewell and Finucane set three new world records en route to winning gold for Team GB, overcoming Andrews’ New Zealand in the final, while Pauline Grabosch, Hinze and Friedrich’s Germany beat Van de Wouw’s Netherlands to bronze.

ANDREWS THE QUEEN OF KEIRIN, LAVREYSEN COMPLETES THE GOLDEN HAT-TRICK 

Ellesse Andrews put the disappointment of narrowly missing out on a team sprint gold behind her to reign supreme in the women’s keirin – the format she’s the current UCI World Champion in. Hetty Van de Wouw (NED) and Emma Finucane (GBR) completed the podium, while 2021 UCI TCL sprint champion Emma Hinze and Finucane’s team-mate Sophie Capewell were also finalists. The 2022 UCI TCL sprint champion Mathilde Gros (FRA) finished eighth overall, while Lauriane Genest (CAN) and Martha Bayona (COL) came joint-16th and joint-23rd respectively. 

In the men’s, Harrie Lavreysen upgraded his bronze from Tokyo 2020 to gold, again getting the better of Matthew Richardson for the third time in a chaotic finale. Reigning keirin UCI World Champion Kevin Quintero (COL) was knocked out in the quarter-finals, finishing joint-16th.

VALENTE STARS IN ENDURANCE FORMATS, EVANS SECURES MADISON SILVER, AND BIBIC STRUGGLES TO REPLICATE UCI TRACK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FORM 

If Lavreysen and Andrews were the riders to beat in the sprint competitions, then Jennifer Valente was the equivalent in the endurance formats – the American rider and 2022 UCI TCL endurance series champion winning both the omnium and team pursuit in commanding style. 

In the omnium, she narrowly missed out on a clean sweep, winning the scratch, elimination, and points race, and finishing second in the tempo race. Her team pursuit quartet meanwhile included Olympic road race winner Kristen Faulkner and two-time time trial world champion Chloe Dygert.

Other endurance-focused UCI TCL riders at the Olympics included Canada’s Maggie Coles-Lyster (team pursuit - 8th; omnium - 9th) and Norway’s Anita Stenberg (omnium - 8th). 

The Madison saw top-10 UCI TCL endurance competitor and reigning UCI World Champion Neah Evans take to the boards in a competition that Katie Archibald won alongside Laura Kenny at Tokyo 2020. Despite her and her partner Elinor Barker winning three out of 12 sprints – including the final one – it wasn’t enough to beat Italy’s duo, who used different tactics to gain a lap (and 20 points) to give them an unassailable lead. In the men’s Madison, Sebastián Mora (ESP) finished eighth.

The biggest shock of the Olympic track cycling competition was arguably the form of Dylan Bibic. The 2023 UCI TCL endurance champion could only manage 19th in the omnium, and his Canadian team pursuit quartet had to settle for 7th by default – the Belgian team they were up against unable to finish with three riders.

Season 4 of the UCI Track Champions League will kick off at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on 23 November, setting the stage for an exciting series that continues in Apeldoorn (29-30 November) and London (6-7 December). Across these three iconic venues, the world’s top track cyclists will compete in five thrilling rounds.

While the full roster of participants for the 2024 UCI Track Champions League is yet to be announced, several elite cyclists have already secured their spots. Alongside the reigning champions who automatically qualify, 11 additional riders have earned their places by claiming gold at their respective continental championships. Additionally, a new group of athletes will soon qualify based on their results at Paris 2024