With Harrie Lavreysen and Kirsten Wild, among others, a series of races for track cyclists will start on Mallorca on Saturday, which has been given the prestigious name UCI Track Champions League. It should be an annual competition between top drivers who compete against each other six Saturday evenings in a row.
The corona measures prevent that this year, but on the days when driving is taking place, Lavreysen promises a spectacle. “I’m looking forward to it, even though the pressure is of course lower than at the Games and the World Cup.”
The Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome was not available for the first edition. The cycling track near Paris is currently used as a vaccination center. The schedule therefore changed slightly with now, after the opening night in Palma de Mallorca, matches in Lithuanian Panevézys, London (two days in a row) and Tel Aviv where the competition ends on December 11.
For Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland, among others, the series of competitions comes after a short but intense season in which the track tournament at the Olympic Games, the European Championship and the World Cup was completed within three months. ,,I’m still really looking forward to it”, says Lavreysen, who won three world titles on the Roubaix track a week and a half ago.
There’s a much bigger chance that Jeffrey and I won’t face each other in the final
There are four parts each time. The sprinters, who also have Shanne Braspennincx and Laurine van Riessen on the list of participants, end up in the sprint and the keirin. For the endurance riders, including Wild and Roy Eefting, the scratch (with 18 riders sprinting for victory after 20 laps) and the elimination race (also 18 participants, of whom the last one drops out every two laps) are on the program. A total of 72 riders can participate and after five races a final classification is made.
Lavreysen is enthusiastic about the format, which should lead to more spectacle to bind TV viewers. ,,It’s a very different kind of tournament than a World Cup. We do three sprints in one evening and two keirin.” On that last part, six riders start behind a derny. When it is out of the track, there is a sprint for the win. ,,At the sprint you start with rides with three riders, of whom only the winner advances. Also in the semi-finals you start with three, after which two riders come out in the final. There is a much greater chance that Jeffrey and I will not face each other in the final. It won’t be as obvious as at a World Cup.” In the past three World Cups, both Dutchmen met in the sprint final, just like at the Games in Japan. Lavreysen always won.
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