UCI Track Champions League: excitement mounts for second showdown

The stars of the UCI Track Champions League are looking forward to a special night in Panevézys (Lithuania), on 27 November, following an enchanting first round in Mallorca (Spain) at the beginning of the month.

Katie Archibald, Emma Hinze, Corbin Strong and Harrie Lavreysen found very good reasons to fall in love with the UCI Track Champions League from the start: their first races were crowned with success, making them the leaders of the different standings (Endurance and Sprint Leagues, Women and Men respectively) after the opening round of the new series launched this autumn. Not only did they shine on the track, they also sensed they were playing a significant part in a landmark event as they took to the Velòdrom Illes Balears.

“The night felt special”, Katie Archibald (first Women Endurance leader) reflected. “I think a lot of riders felt aware to be at the start of something important.” The British star is used to the highest standards, with Olympic Games triumphs in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 alongside her many UCI World Champion rainbow jerseys and medals of all colours, but she had long expressed her excitement about the new UCI Track Champions League. So had her fellow stars of the track... and Mallorca didn’t disappoint.

“It was really exciting for everyone in the velodrome that night. I think all the riders really enjoyed the experience and the crowd as well,” Corbin Strong (Men Endurance leader) describes. “It was a great first round so I’m excited for the next.”

The ‘fast wheels’ are on the same page. “I loved the atmosphere, the lighting, I think it was really exciting”, says Emma Hinze (Women Sprint leader). Harrie Lavreysen (Men Sprint leader) also highlights “the atmosphere in the velodrome, with the lighting”, and adds: “I really like the new format, doing the sprint and the keirin in one evening. I think it’s good for the fans and it’s also good for us.”

“I only did five rides that evening, but it felt like I did five finals”

With 14 events (6 rounds of the sprint, 4 rounds of the keirin, 2 Scratch Races, 2 eliminations) in one night, the fans enjoy a non-stop show that tests the riders’ limits. “I was extremely out of breath to be honest, and my heart rate was really high,” Strong admitted after a furious Scratch Race and ahead of a tense elimination. “A lot of track events can feel like you spend a lot of time at the hotel. You have one race, and then you wait three days resting, and then you have another race. So I think this format is really good. For us endurance riders, it’s not too unusual, but the sprinters had a pretty busy evening.”

With 72 elite riders gathered in the velodrome, Strong tried to speak with sprinters during the event but “they didn’t really speak back, they were so tired!” Archibald managed to get a word from her compatriot Sophie Capewell: “She was like: ‘oh goodness, I just came off and I have to get straight back on again!’ And I think that’s working really well.”

The sprinters themselves were happy to go through the ordeal: “I only did five rides that evening, but it felt like I did five finals,” Lavreysen explains. “It’s like we only do the finals, the stuff that’s the most important to us and also for the fans.”

“Everyone was ready to race and everyone was really excited for the new Champions League,” Emma Hinze adds. “We had only heard about it and we wanted to see how it would work out. And I think in the end it was as cool as they said. I think the other ones felt the same. It wasn’t show racing, it was real racing with everyone going for it.”

Getting to know each other

The intensity of the action and the new format of competition also brought new dynamics between the athletes. “It’s definitely special to have sprinters and endurance riders all together, but also with the different nations,” Archibald says. “Usually, when we travel away, we stay in our own national bubbles - I don’t mean Covid bubbles, but social bubbles - but with this, just two leagues, we’re all getting to know each other quite a bit.”

The Scottish rider meets again with the stars of the UCI Track Cycling Champions League this Saturday in Panevézys (Lithuania). The following weekend, they face a double header in London (Great Britain), before the final round in Tel Aviv (Israel), in the Sylvan Adams National Velodrome, on 11 December.

Strong, who spent part of November in Israel for a camp with his road teammates at UCI WorldTeam Israel Start-Up Nation, has already put a cross on the date: “It will mean a lot to me to be here, in front of my team owner Sylvan Adams, racing in the velodrome he built.”