UCI Track Champions League – Round 4 – London

With the scheduled final in Tel Aviv cancelled due to the emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 strain, Round 4 – the second consecutive round in London – became the finale by default.

None of the titles were technically decided – although Great Britain’s Katie Archibald was so far ahead that it would have taken a miracle to stop her – and there was one major surprise on the cards.

Women’s Sprint

First Round

Olena Starikova of Ukraine has looked better and better as the competition has gone and she made her opening Sprint heat against Yuli Verdugo of Mexico and Yana Tyshcenko of Russia look easy, heading the Mexican home to progress to the Semi-Finals.

Olympic Keirin Bronze medalist Lauriane Genest of Canada, on the other hand, has struggled – improving a little in Lithuania, but ultimately failing to find the form she would have wanted. Here, too, she was out of the Sprint in the opening round, falling to Mathilde Gros of France with Riyu Ohta of Japan in third place.

Heat 3 saw a head-to-head between veteran Lithuanina Simona Krupeckaite and Martha Bayona of Colombia, with the Lithuanian taking the third spot in the Semi Finals. Genest’s compatriot Kelsey Mitchell had a very strong opening round – finishing second to Series leader Emma Hinze, but dropped away a little in rounds two and three. Here, though, she was through easily ahead of Miriam Vece of Italy and Anastasiia Voinova of Russia.

The penultimate heat saw the only other rider still in contention for the overall – Lea Sophie Friedrich of Germany – despatch Great Britain’s Sophie Capewell and Mina Sato of Japan, while Champions League leader Emma Hinze had an all too easy ride against Daria Shemeleva of Russia. Shmeleva has looked a shadow of her former self and would end the evening in last place overall in the Sprint competition, despite Laurine van Riessen and Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands missing two rounds.

Heat 1
1 STARIKOVA Olena UKRAINE
2 VERDUGO Yuli MEXICO
3 TYSHCHENKO Yana RUSSIA

Heat 2
1 GROS Mathilde FRANCE
2 GENEST Lauriane CANADA
3 OHTA Riyu JAPAN

Heat 3
1 KRUPECKAITE Simona LITHUANIA
2 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COLOMBIA

Heat 4
1 MITCHELL Kelsey CANADA
2 VECE Miriam ITALY
3 VOINOVA Anastasiia RUSSIA

Heat 5
1 FRIEDRICH Lea GERMANY
2 CAPEWELL Sophie GREAT BRITAIN
3 SATO Mina JAPAN

Heat 6
1 HINZE Emma GERMANY
2 SHMELEVA Daria RUSSIA

Semi Finals

There are no sure things in bike racing, but Hinze progressing to the final is about as close as we get. Despite Starikova challenging strongly early on, she eased through at the expense of the Ukranian and Krupeckaite.

In the second Semi, though, Mitchell’s form returned and she timed her effort perfectly, letting Friedrich and Gros battle it out before pipping Friedrich on the line to progress to a Final match with Hinze.

Heat 1
1 HINZE Emma GERMANY
2 STARIKOVA Olena UKRAINE
3 KRUPECKAITE Simona LITHUANIA

Heat 2
1 MITCHELL Kelsey CANADA
2 FRIEDRICH Lea GERMANY
3 GROS Mathilde FRANCE

Final

Sadly – but unsurprisingly – that was as far as Mitchell’s run went, with Hinze dominating the Final. The title race wasn’t quite all over but it was close.

1 HINZE Emma GERMANY
2 MITCHELL Kelsey CANADA

Men’s Keirin

First Round

The opening heat of the Men’s Keirin saw Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands claim pole position to take the Men’s Sprint League title. Such was his lead over Stefan Boetticher that two final appearances would clinch the overall, even if he finished last in both. Mateusz Rudyk of Poland did make him work for it, though – after the duo had chased down Hugo Barrette of Canada’s early break – and secured the other spot in the final. Rayan Helal of France and Jean Spies of South Africa took fourth and fifth.

Boetticher made sure it wasn’t over just yet – with fellow German Max Levy taking the second sport after another early break, this time from Jai Ansuthasawit of Thailand. Russia duo of Denis Dmitriev and Mikhail Yakovlev finished ahead of Kento Yamasaki of Japan.

The final two berths in the final went to Kevin Quintero of Colombia and Jair Tjon En Fa of Suriname, who picked up where he left on the night before. That meant Nicholas Paul of Trinidad and Tobago, Vasilijus Lendel of Lithuania, Tom Derache of France and Jordan Castle of New Zealand missed out.

Heat 1
1 LAVREYSEN Harrie NETHERLANDS
2 RUDYK Mateusz POLAND +0.065
3 BARRETTE Hugo CANADA +0.117
4 HELAL Rayan FRANCE +0.142
5 SPIES Jean SOUTH AFRICA +0.845

Heat 2
1 BÖTTICHER Stefan GERMANY
2 LEVY Maximilian GERMANY +0.048
3 ANGSUTHASAWIT Jai THAILAND +0.094
4 DMITRIEV Denis RUSSIA +0.211
5 YAKOVLEV Mikhail RUSSIA +0.225
6 YAMASAKI Kento JAPAN +0.312

Heat 3
1 QUINTERO CHAVARRO Kevin Santia COLOMBIA
2 TJON EN FA Jair SURINAME +0.135
3 PAUL Nicholas TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO +0.247
4 LENDEL Vasilijus LITHUANIA +0.364
5 DERACHE Tom FRANCE +0.410
6 CASTLE Jordan NEW ZEALAND +0.437

Final

A thrilling final saw Lavreysen again pipped by the ‘veteran’ Boetticher, with Quintero taking third from Tjon En Fa, Rudyk and Levy. Boetticher had kept his title hopes alive until the final event.

1 BÖTTICHER Stefan GERMANY
2 LAVREYSEN Harrie NETHERLANDS +0.004
3 QUINTERO CHAVARRO Kevin Santia COLOMBIA +0.097
4 TJON EN FA Jair SURINAME +0.331
5 RUDYK Mateusz POLAND +0.564
6 LEVY Maximilian GERMANY +0.62

Men’s Scratch

The result of the Men’s Scratch was a win for Roy Eefting of the Netherlands – ahead of Round 1 double-winner Corbin Strong of New Zealand. The story of the Men’s Scratch was the relegation of series leader Sebastian Mora of Spain for causing a crash with a lap to go. That relegation meant that he would have to finish ahead of Gavin Hoover of the USA – Mr Consistency, who finished 6^th in the Scratch – and Strong – to ensure the title.

1 Roy EEFTING NETHERLANDS
2 Corbin STRONG NEW ZEALAND
3 William TIDBALL GREAT BRITAIN
4 Aaron GATE NEW ZEALAND
5 Michele SCARTEZZINI ITALY
6 Gavin HOOVER USA
7 Rhys BRITTON GREAT BRITAIN
8 Iuri LEITAO PORTUGAL
9 Kelland O’BRIEN AUSTRALIA
10 Claudio IMHOF SWITZERLAND
11 Ed CLANCY GREAT BRITAIN
12 Rotem TENE ISRAEL
13 Erik MARTORELL HAGA SPAIN
14 Sebastian MORA SPAIN
15 Alan BANASZEK POLAND
15 Kazushige KUBOKI JAPAN
DNF Yacine CHALEL ALGERIA
DNF Josh CHARLTON GREAT BRITAIN

Relegation 56 MORA Sebastian for causing the crash of his opponent.

Women’s Scratch

We said after last night’s round that the likelihood of another breakaway win in the short, fast Women’s Scratch race was extremely unlikely, as the leaders were wise to it. As ever, we were proved wrong within 24 hours with Japan’s Yumi Kajahara getting away in the final third to take the win.

In truth, it didn’t matter. With Kajihara rather than Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands taking the win, it wouldn’t have mattered if Great Britain’s Katie Archibald had come last in both events, she would still have taken the crown. That’s not how Katie works, though – and having marked Wild – and Annette Endmondson of Australia and Maggie Coles-Lyster of Canada – both outside shots – she took the bunch sprint ahead of the Canadian and the Australian in 3^rd and 4^th – to make absolutely sure.

1 Yumi KAJIHARA JAPAN
2 Katie ARCHIBALD GREAT BRITAIN
3 Maggie COLES-LYSTER CANADA
4 Annette EDMONDSON AUSTRALIA
5 Kirsten WILD NETHERLANDS
6 Maria MARTINS PORTUGAL
7 Anita Yvonne STENBERG NORWAY
8 Emily KAY IRELAND
9 Hanna TSERAKH BELARUS
10 Tania CALVO SPAIN
11 Olivija BALEISYTE LITHUANIA
12 Gulnaz KHATUNTSEVA RUSSIA
13 Silvia ZANARDI ITALY
14 Michelle ANDRES SWITZERLAND
15 Karolina KARASIEWICZ POLAND
16 Kendall RYAN USA
17 Alzbeta BACIKOVA SLOVAKIA
18 Eukene LARRARTE SPAIN

Men’s Sprint

First Round

Barrette had another punt at an upset in the opening race of the Men’s Sprint and ran Lavreysen close, but in the end he was out of the competition just as much as the – distant – third placed rider Jean Spies of South Africa.

Angsuthasawit did his best to hand Lavreysen the overall title by putting up a spirited challenge to Boetticher, but he too failed to seal the deal, heading out with Yamasaki.

Tjon En Fa saw off Lendel and Derache to take the third spot – and he was joined by Paul, who despatched Quintero and Castle. The Kiwi had gone very fast, very early and looked for a while as though he might pull off a surprise, before Paul’s powerful engine reeled him in and Castle ran out of gas.

Levy split the Russians in the penultimate heat, Dmitriev missing out along with the German and Yakovlev booking his place in the Semi Finals. And the final spot went to Helal – whose head-to-head with Rudyk was one of the best sprints of the entire series.

Heat 1
1 LAVREYSEN Harrie NETHERLANDS
2 BARRETTE Hugo CANADA
3 SPIES Jean SOUTH AFRICA

Heat 2
1 BÖTTICHER Stefan GERMANY
2 ANGSUTHASAWIT Jai THAILAND
3 YAMASAKI Kento JAPAN

Heat 3
1 TJON EN FA Jair SURINAME
2 LENDEL Vasilijus LITHUANIA
3 DERACHE Tom FRANCE

Heat 4
1 PAUL Nicholas TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
2 QUINTERO CHAVARRO Kevin Santiago COLOMBIA
3 CASTLE Jordan NEW ZEALAND

Heat 5
1 YAKOVLEV Mikhail RUSSIA
2 LEVY Maximilian GERMANY
3 DMITRIEV Denis RUSSIA

Heat 6
1 HELAL Rayan FRANCE
2 RUDYK Mateusz POLAND

Semi Finals

It would have been nice to have someone in the final other than Lavreysen and Boetticher, but that was never going to happen. Lavreysen had the series win, whatever the outcome of the final, but you sensed he’d want to go out with a win.

Heat 1
1 LAVREYSEN Harrie NETHERLANDS
2 PAUL Nicholas TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
3 HELAL Rayan FRANCE

Heat 2
1 BÖTTICHER Stefan GERMANY
2 YAKOVLEV Mikhail RUSSIA
3 TJON EN FA Jair SURINAME

Final

About all we could hope for from the final really was that it was a close finish – the competition was over – and that’s what we got. Ish. Not photo finish close, but not a walkover, either. Lavreysen was the worthy winner of the Champions League and Boetticher had impressed quite a few people with his ‘comeback’.

1 LAVREYSEN Harrie NETHERLANDS
2 BÖTTICHER Stefan GERMANY

Men’s Elimination

After his Scratch Race win yesterday, it was a little disappointing to see Claudio Imhof of Switzerland the first to leave the Elimination race. Rotem Tene of Israel, Josh Charlton of Great Britain and Kuzushige Kuboki of Japan went, next – all about where you would expect them to be – followed by the legendary Ed Clancy in his final race.

Erik Martorell of Spain and Michele Scartezzini of Italy haven’t really impressed over the four rounds – but Yacine Chalel’s 11^th place was a good showing by the Algerian. Rhys Britton was 10^th – and the Great Britain rider will have been disappointed with that – although a breakaway attempt in the Scratch will have no doubt affected his legs. Alan Banaszek of Poland – casualty of the incident with Mora earlier which left the Spaniard’s series lead hanging by a thread – was 9^th, followed by Strong – good news for Mora – William Tidball of Great Britain and Kelland O’Brien of Australia.

And then it was all over. Mora was out; Hoover was still in. The American would finish the series just 10 points clear of the Spaniard on the night and five overall, having never led the series at any previous point.

Scratch Race winner Eeefting went next, leaving Leitao and Gate to contest, the final sprint – which the Portuguese rider took, leaving him 5^th overall – between the two Kiwis with Strong 3^rd and Gate 6^th.

1 LEITAO Iuri PORTUGAL
2 GATE Aaron NEW ZEALAND
3 EEFTING Roy NETHERLANDS
4 HOOVER Gavin USA
5 MORA Sebastian SPAIN
6 O’BRIEN Kelland AUSTRALIA
7 TIDBALL William GREAT BRITAIN
8 STRONG Corbin NEW ZEALAND
9 BANASZEK Alan POLAND
10 BRITTON Rhys GREAT BRITAIN
11 CHALEL Yacine ALGERIA
12 SCARTEZZINI Michele ITALY
13 MARTORELL HAGA Erik SPAIN
14 CLANCY Ed GREAT BRITAIN
15 KUBOKI Kazushige JAPAN
16 CHARLTON Josh GREAT BRITAIN
17 TENE Rotem ISRAEL
18 IMHOF Claudio SWITZERLAND

Women’s Keirin

First Round

Hinze only needed to pick up a couple of points from the Keirin competition to secure the title and she set about it in the right way, making her way to the final by just one thousandth of a second from Starikova. Verdugo, Shmeleva and Tyschenko were done for 2021.

Mina Sato of Japan pipped Friedrich into second place in Heat 2, but both riders progressed and it was Ohta, Capewell, Genest and Gros whose League competition was over.

Mitchell – who appeared to have found her form late, took the penultimate place in the final, with Bayona taking the last spot – Vece, Krupeckaite and Voinova heading back to the pens to pack.

Heat 1
1 HINZE Emma GERMANY
2 STARIKOVA Olena UKRAINE +0.001
3 VERDUGO Yuli MEXICO +0.174
4 SHMELEVA Daria RUSSIA +0.383
5 TYSHCHENKO Yana RUSSIA +0.534

Heat 2
1 SATO Mina JAPAN
2 FRIEDRICH Lea GERMANY +0.077
3 OHTA Riyu JAPAN +0.086
4 CAPEWELL Sophie GREAT BRITAIN +0.307
5 GENEST Lauriane CANADA +0.594
6 GROS Mathilde FRANCE +0.699

Heat 3
1 MITCHELL Kelsey CANADA
2 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COLOMBIA +0.036
3 VECE Miriam ITALY +0.200
4 KRUPECKAITE Simona LITHUANIA +0.322
5 VOINOVA Anastasiia RUSSIA +0.406

Final

Hinze didn’t need to win the final – she didn’t even need to finish ahead of Friedrich – and it was a good job because the race was only ever between Starikova and Mitchell. Hinze made a charge from the back, but she didn’t look as though her heart was in it and it was the Ukrainian who took the win just under four hundredths ahead of the Canadian, with Bayona third, Hinze fourth, Sato fifth and Friedrich bringing up the rear.

Overall, Hinze had one it by ten points, with Mitchell 16 behind Friedrich in third.

1 STARIKOVA Olena UKRAINE
2 MITCHELL Kelsey CANADA +0.039
3 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COLOMBIA +0.101
4 HINZE Emma GERMANY +0.429
5 SATO Mina JAPAN +0.562
6 FRIEDRICH Lea GERMANY +0.753

Women’s Elimination

The first eight riders to be eliminated included seven of the bottom eight in the overall standings – only Anita Stenberg of Norway – second rider out – was in the top 10 and only Michelle Andres in 13^th would defy her form and take a top 10 here. Karolina Karasiewicz of Poland was first to go, followed by Stenberg, Then Kendall Ryan of the USA, Tania Calvo of Spain – who’s finding life as an endurance rider tough – Gulnaz Khatuntseva of Russia, Alzbeta Bacikova of Slovakia, Hanna Tserakh of Belarus and Eukene Larrarte of Spain.

Olivija Baleisyte of Lithuania was 10^th, just behind Silvia Zanardi of Italy and the aforementioned Andres. Coles-Lyster was the first of the big names to go – which would drop her to fourth overall, behind Annette Edmondson, who followed Emily Kay of Ireland out to take 5^th.

Kajihara followed up her Scratch Race win with a 4^th which would net her 5^th overall, while Maria Martins of Portugal was the rider who stepped aside to set up the showdown between Wild and Archibald.

It was academic, of course, but the Scot was determined to finish on top in front of the British crowd and rode away to take the win and – by a 45 point margin (31 more than Lavreysen’s Sprint League win – the next most dominant).

1 ARCHIBALD Katie GREAT BRITAIN
2 WILD Kirsten NETHERLANDS
3 MARTINS Maria PORTUGAL
4 KAJIHARA Yumi JAPAN
5 EDMONDSON Annette AUSTRALIA
6 KAY Emily IRELAND
7 COLES-LYSTER Maggie CANADA
8 ANDRES Michelle SWITZERLAND
9 ZANARDI Silvia ITALY
10 BALEISYTE Olivija LITHUANIA
11 LARRARTE Eukene SPAIN
12 TSERAKH Hanna BELARUS
13 BACIKOVA Alzbeta SLOVAKIA
14 KHATUNTSEVA Gulnaz RUSSIA
15 CALVO Tania SPAIN
16 RYAN Kendall USA
17 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NORWAY
18 KARASIEWICZ Karolina POLAND

Final Standings

Women’s Sprint

Women’s Sprint
			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total
1	Emma HINZE	GERMANY	37	37	21	33	128
2	Lea FRIEDRICH	GERMANY	30	26	37	25	118
3	Kelsey  MITCHELL	CANADA	35	15	18	34	102
4	Martha BAYONA PINEDA	COLOMBIA	22	14	26	24	86
5	Olena STARIKOVA	UKRAINE	11	17	23	33	84
6	Mathilde GROS	FRANCE	16	18	23	10	67
7	Simona KRUPECKAITE	LITHUANIA	9	14	21	16	60
8	Yana TYSHCHENKO	RUSSIA	15	16	23	6	60
9	Lauriane GENEST	CANADA	13	23	8	9	53
10	Miriam VECE	ITALY	19	3	16	14	52
11	Mina SATO	JAPAN	6	16	13	12	47
12	Yuli VERDUGO	MEXICO	6	11	12	14	43
13	Riyu OHTA	JAPAN	7	10	8	12	37
14	Shanne BRASPENNINCX	NETHERLAND	18	16	0	0	34
15	Sophie CAPEWELL	GREAT BRITAI	1	3	8	11	23
16	Anastasiia  VOINOVA	RUSSIA	7	8	3	5	23
17	Laurine VAN RIESSEN	NETHERLAND	5	15	0	0	20
18	Daria SHMELEVA	RUSSIA	5	0	3	4	12

Women’s Endurance

Women’s Endurance
			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total
1	Katie ARCHIBALD	GREAT BRITAI	33	40	35	37	145
2	Kirsten WILD	NETHERLAND	25	10	37	28	100
3	Annette EDMONDSON	AUSTRALIA	23	24	26	24	97
4	Maggie COLES-LYSTER	CANADA	30	30	10	24	94
5	Yumi KAJIHARA	JAPAN	13	15	20	33	81
6	Anita Yvonne STENBERG	NORWAY	22	28	16	9	75
7	Olivija BALEISYTE	LITHUANIA	28	16	19	11	74
8	Maria MARTINS	PORTUGAL	13	13	17	25	68
9	Silvia ZANARDI	ITALY	11	21	19	10	61
10	Emily KAY	IRELAND	9	13	12	18	52
11	Hanna TSERAKH	BELARUS	22	0	7	11	40
12	Tania CALVO	SPAIN	9	9	10	7	35
13	Michelle ANDRES	SWITZERLAND	6	9	6	10	31
14	Eukene LARRARTE	SPAIN	4	6	8	5	23
15	Karolina KARASIEWICZ	POLAND	4	7	9	1	21
16	Kendall RYAN	USA	6	12	1	0	19
17	Gulnaz  KHATUNTSEVA	RUSSIA	0	6	6	6	18
18	Alzbeta BACIKOVA	SLOVAKIA	4	3	4	3	14

Men’s Sprint

Men’s Sprint
			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total
1	Harrie LAVREYSEN	NETHERLANDS	37	40	33	37	147
2	Stefan BÖTTICHER	GERMANY	33	26	37	37	133
3	Mikhail YAKOVLEV	RUSSIA	18	16	18	20	72
4	Vasilijus LENDEL	LITHUANIA	13	19	32	8	72
5	Jair TJON EN FA	SURINAME	9	8	28	26	71
6	Nicholas  PAUL	TRINIDAD & TOBAGO	24	17	15	15	71
7	Kevin Santiago QUINTERO CHAVARRO	COLOMBIA	16	15	8	23	62
8	Rayan HELAL	FRANCE	14	14	15	17	60
9	Denis DMITRIEV	RUSSIA	6	24	10	8	48
10	Jai ANGSUTHASAWIT	THAILAND	2	17	10	18	47
11	Jeffrey HOOGLAND	NETHERLANDS	30	17	0	0	47
12	Maximilian LEVY	GERMANY	6	2	19	17	44
13	Mateusz RUDYK	POLAND	10	14	4	16	44
14	Hugo BARRETTE	CANADA	11	9	9	12	41
15	Tom DERACHE	FRANCE	12	6	18	4	40
16	Jordan CASTLE	NEW ZEALAND	4	11	5	1	21
17	Kento YAMASAKI	JAPAN	11	4	0	3	18
18	Jean SPIES	SOUTH AFRICA	6	3	1	0	10

Men’s Endurance

Men’s Endurance
			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total
1	Gavin HOOVER	USA	27	26	31	23	107
2	Sebastian MORA	SPAIN	19	40	30	13	102
3	Corbin STRONG	NEW ZEALAND	40	17	11	25	93
5	Iuri LEITAO	PORTUGAL	30	14	12	28	84
4	Aaron GATE	NEW ZEALAND	20	21	13	30	84
6	Kelland O’BRIEN	AUSTRALIA	12	28	17	17	74
7	Rhys BRITTON	GREAT BRITAIN	16	22	21	15	74
8	Roy EEFTING	NETHERLANDS	20	9	7	35	71
9	Michele SCARTEZZINI	ITALY	7	23	17	15	62
10	Alan BANASZEK	POLAND	16	11	21	8	56
11	Claudio IMHOF	SWITZERLAND	0	14	31	6	51
12	Kazushige KUBOKI	JAPAN	16	16	17	1	50
13	Erik MARTORELL HAGA	SPAIN	15	2	14	6	37
14	Jules HESTERS	BELGIUM	7	10	0	0	17
15	Ed CLANCY	GREAT BRITAIN	1	5	3	7	16
16	Rotem  TENE	ISRAEL	5	4	0	4	13
17	Yacine CHALEL	ALGERIA	6	0	2	5	13
18	Tuur DENS	BELGIUM	5	0	0	0	5