Shocks and surprises as 2024 UCI Track Champions League enjoys first of two rounds in Apeldoorn

Round 2 of the 2024 UCI Track Champions League was packed with shocks, upsets, and surprises. Underdogs made their mark, jerseys changed hands, and some of the big contenders for overall victory suffered major defeats.

It was all change in the Sprint league standings, but the Endurance king and queen kept a tight grip on their crowns, as Katie Archibald (Great Britain), Dylan Bibic (Canada), Alina Lysenko, and Harrie Lavreysen (the Netherlands) pulled on the prestigious blue leaders’ jerseys.  

Katie Archibald retained her lead in the Women’s Endurance standings with an impressively consistent performance, finishing second in both the Scratch and Elimination races to extend her series lead to an impressive 29 points. Sarah van Dam (Canada) and Anita Stenberg (Norway) both got their first wins of the series with victory in the Scratch and Elimination races respectively, soaring up the overall standings in the process to second and third behind Archibald.  

Harrie Lavreysen had a muted start to the series in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Paris, France) but came roaring back on his home track, winning the Sprint and finishing runner-up in the Keirin, won in stunning fashion by Cristian Ortega (Colombia). Lavreysen was overpowered in the closing stages of the Keirin but put a significant dent into his main rival, Matthew Richardson (Great Britain), who was forced to concede the leader’s jersey. 

Alina Lysenko continued her near-faultless start to racing in the UCI Track Champions League, with stellar wins in the Women’s Sprint and Keirin to gain the maximum 40 points and storm into the overall series lead. 

Dylan Bibic ensured both Endurance series leaders retained their blue jerseys with two strong rides, finishing second in the Scratch race and winning a disrupted Elimination race to keep his title defence on the right track. Tobias Aagard Hansen (Denmark) demonstrated his title credentials, however, with a resounding victory in the Scratch and a runner-up spot in the Elimination, jumping up the standings to sit just behind Bibic.  

Sadly, Nicky Degrendele (Belgium) had to withdraw before the start of Round 2 due to injury, and the former Keirin UCI World Champion will be unable to contest the rest of the 2024 UCI Track Champions League as a result. We wish Nicky a speedy recovery and a swift return to competition! 

HOW THE ACTION UNFOLDED

Like the opening race in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the Women’s Scratch in Apeldoorn got off to a cautious start. A small group of six including last week’s intrepid breakaway rider Olivija Baleisyte (Lithuania) escaped, but it was Sarah van Dam who made the decisive move. She attacked with ten laps to go, powering away from the field in the closing 2km and riding solo across the line to take the full 20 points. Archibald led home the bunch for second place, with Mia Griffin (Ireland) doubling up on third places after getting the same result in Round 1 – and Baleisyte hanging on for fourth. 

After a steady start to the Men’s Scratch race the pace began to heat up, with Philip Heijnen (the Netherlands) sending the packed crowd wild as he accelerated off the front with 11 laps to go. But he was reeled in, and the riders were all bunched up together in the closing stages with series leader Dylan Bibic worryingly boxed in. It looked like a battle between Lindsay de Vylder (Belgium) and new Elimination UCI World Champion Tobias Aagard Hansen as the final-lap bell rang, but it was the Dane who swung clear in the last half-lap to seal the victory. De Vylder took third, with Bibic sneaking past him to finish second and maintain his overall lead. 

There was an early shock as Sprint category leader and last week’s Sprint winner Emma Finucane (Great Britain) was knocked out in the semi-finals, with UCI World and Olympic Champion, and major rival, Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) swinging past her in the closing metres of their high-quality heat. 

Andrews faced Alina Lysenko in the final, who proved her credentials as a serious UCI Track Champions League contender by chasing down home favourite Steffie van der Peet (the Netherlands) in the closing stages of her semi-final. And the four-time junior UCI World Champion continued her incredible first season in the UCI Track Champions League by defeating Andrews in the main event, coming around her on the last bend for a second victory in as many weeks. 

The Sprint shocks continued as Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines double winner and series leader Matthew Richardson was knocked out in his semi-final. Nicholas Paul (Trinidad and Tobago) rode an incredibly canny race, taking advantage of the riders coming to a track stand to dive down the banking and power away, with the blue jersey unable to chase him down. 

He was to face Apeldoorn’s star, Harrie Lavreysen, who very nearly didn’t make it through the heats himself. With just a handful of metres to go in his first-round race he was still furiously pedalling to make up ground on Australian rising star Tayte Ryan, who looked about to pull off the upset of the night with his long-range move. But the Dutchman produced one of his monumental accelerations to get out of trouble, and there was to be no such drama in the final as he rode well clear of Paul to jump to the top of the overall standings. 

The shocks and surprises continued in the Women’s Elimination race, as last week’s second-place rider, Yareli Acevedo (Mexico), was the second to be knocked out this time round. Round 1 winner Archibald stayed out of trouble by leading from the front for much of the race and after Lara Gillespie’s (Ireland) exit, it was down to the two pre-race favourites, Stenberg and Archibald, to sprint for the win. The Norwegian outlasted her rival to take her first win of the series and move up to third overall, getting her 2024 UCI Track Champions League challenge back on track. 

The Men’s Elimination race was brought to a screeching halt after only a few laps. A high-speed crash brought down over half a field and resulted in a delay as the track was repaired and riders received medical attention. 

The Women’s Keirin final was brought forward. Emma Finucane was knocked out in the first round, guaranteeing a new leader in the women’s Sprint category. And it was Alina Lysenko who stepped into the spotlight, timing her acceleration perfectly to move all the way up from the back to overhaul second-placed Ellesse Andrews on the line. 

Lysenko’s perfect 40 points saw her leapfrog Finucane into the overall lead and continue her incredible start to life in the UCI Track Champions League. Martha Bayona (Colombia)’s consistency so far was rewarded as she moved up to second overall, with Finucane slipping to third, a massive 20 points behind Lysenko. 

In the Men’s Keirin it was time for another surprise as Harrie Lavreysen was beaten at home by underdog Cristian Ortega, who stormed around the Dutchman in the final straight to snatch the win at the last moment, his first in the UCI Track Champions League. Series leader Matthew Richardson had too much track to make up and he finished fourth, behind Ortega, Lavreysen, and high-flyer Nicholas Paul. Lavreysen couldn’t be too disappointed with his runner-up spot as he moved up into the overall Sprint lead, seven points clear of Richardson, with Paul rounding out the provisional podium. 

To conclude the night’s racing the Men’s Elimination riders again took to the track, minus Grant Koontz (USA). And with fatigue in the legs it was a confusing race. Dylan Bibic rode smartly throughout and simply had too much power in the end for Tobias Aagard Hansen to challenge him, with Blake Agnoletto (Australia) third. The Canadian was the first and only winner of the night in a blue jersey and his consistency kept him in the overall lead, with Aagard Hansen moving up to second and Lindsay de Vylder up to third. 

ALL THE REACTION FROM ROUND 1  

Women's Endurance leader and Scratch and Elimination runner-up Katie Archibald said: “I’m in love with the UCI Track Champions League! I like [that] it’s about consistency and knowing when to gamble and when to not. This is probably the biggest highlight of that, that the two front-runners [Yareli Acevedo and Anita Stenberg] have had big setbacks. I [want to] fight for victory, because that’s the most direct route to the jersey. Because it can swing so radically, you never know that you can win later. The first four races tonight, the blue jersey hasn’t won any of them – it’s not an unlucky colour, but it doesn’t guarantee anything!” 

Men’s Endurance leader and Elimination race winner Dylan Bibic said: “From what I could feel someone fell into my back wheel pretty hard [in the Elimination race], and it was actually quite a bit of upper body strength to not go down, fortunately I made it out. It wasn’t a very satisfying win, having part of the field injured, but I still have to try tomorrow. I just hope tomorrow and throughout the rest of the series they can recover and do better. [Tobias Aagard Hansen] is the one I remember from UCI World Championships, I see down the road, the next ten years it’s going to be him and I going at each other like this because we’re both young and we both have a lot of potential. It’s cool [to still be in the lead] but it comes with a lot of work too, you’re marked in the races, but I’m along for the ride and just enjoying the moment.”

Women’s Sprint leader and Keirin and Sprint race winner Alina Lysenko said: "I’m really pleased to have won the two sprint events today, but the toughest part is still ahead. We’ve only completed two rounds, and there are three more to go!" 

Men’s Sprint leader and Sprint winner Harrie Lavreysen said: “It feels really good [to be back in the leader’s jersey]. Last week I didn’t feel that strong and I was pretty happy with the second place. This week I got a bit lucky, or Matthew [Richardson] had some un-luck, but I’m really happy to win the Sprint final in front of the home crowd. [Cristian Ortega and Nicholas Paul] really stepped up compared to last week, it’s pretty close in the league so I think this year is going to be a bit different to the last two. It’s my fourth year in the UCI Track Champions League, I’m really proud of my racing and I really wanted to show it to the Dutch people. I think the crowd loved it!” 

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS, POWERED BY AWS 

Harrie Lavreysen hit his peak power of the night in the very first race, pushing up to 2,173 watts to survive an early scare caused by Tayte Ryan’s surprise attack. The Dutch history maker went over 2,000 watts again to get the better of Nicholas Paul in the final (2,098 watts). But the accumulation of efforts took a toll on Lavreysen, dominated by the much lighter Cristian Ortega (85 kg vs 99 kg) in the keirin. The Colombian hit 1,782 watts to sprint to his first UCI Track Champions League win. 

At 21 years old, Alina Lysenko is off to breakthrough performances in the 2024 UCI Track Champions League, achieving the second-best debut ever recorded in the series, behind Harrie Lavreysen’s 77 points in his first four races, in 2021. The four-time UCI Junior World Champion has picked up 18.75 points per race, the best ratio among the 178 riders in the history of the UCI Track Champions League. Lavreysen follows with 18.44 points per race (590 points in 32 races). The Dutch star also has the best average over a full season: 19.1 points per race to dominate the 2023 Men’s Sprint League.

After subpar performances in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Tobias Hansen produced his best in Round 2 to win the Scratch race with a strong move in the final lap. He pushed 1,156 watts, with a heart rate of 199 beats per minute, just below the maximum he declared ahead of the 2024 UCI Track Champions League: 201 bpm… i.e. the value he hit in the elimination, with an even higher power - 1,343 watts - to come second behind Dylan Bibic. 

For the first time in the history of the UCI Track Champions League, Katie Archibald ended the night without a victory. But the British star still delivered, with two second places that illustrated her craft and consistency. After Sarah van Dam pulled away from the bunch, Archibald controlled her rivals with a strong final effort at 920 watts that saw her beat her maximum heart rate this season: 191 bpm. And she was still able to deliver similar numbers - 942 W, 187 bpm - to finish second in the elimination behind Anita Stenberg.

The UCI Track Champions League is back in action tomorrow night for the second of two rounds in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, sponsored by BetCity. 

Round 3 of the 2024 series takes place in the Omnisport Apeldoorn on Saturday, 30 November from 4 PM CET. Tickets are available HERE.