In the women's sprint of the UCI Track Champions League, Mathilde Gros (FRA) moved to the top of the standings with a strong performance in the third round in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Saturday night.
The velodrome will be the venue for the track events of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Gros, who already won the sprint world title at this venue last month, hopes his success here is a harbinger of things to come.
"The pressure was good pressure. You can feel the push of the world and tonight was no different. No pressure, just joy," Gros said.
The Frenchwoman defeated Martha Bayona (Colombia) in the sprint event final and finished second in the Keirin behind Steffie van der Peet (Netherlands). With this result, Gros is now at the top of the UCI track champion's overall sprint standings.
Ahead of next weekend's doubleheader in London, Gros has 83 points and is seven points ahead of Bayona. Kelsey Mitchell (Canada), who finished third in Saturday's Keirin, is in third place overall with 73 points.
Jennifer Valente (USA) holds the top spot in the women's endurance standings, just ahead of Kate Archibald (GBR), and the two will battle it out in a tumultuous duel in London next week.
Archibald won the elimination race on Saturday evening, beating Valente, who also beat Valente to second place in the scratch race won by Sophie Lewis (GBR). Valente is now just one point behind Archibald at the top of the standings.
"I'm not jubilant about not having the jersey, and I'm quite motivated for London next week," Archibald said. 'I've taken this whole series seriously and I didn't think I would at the end of the first round, but I'm happy to be going into the final round. We want to do everything perfectly to have a chance to win the series"
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"I don't stress too much because in elimination races you just drive hard. There are a lot of good points on this course, so this time I tried to run in higher gears, but I was 100% overgeared. I had to pedal.
Claudio Imhoff (Switzerland) moved to the top of the men's endurance standings with podium finishes in both the elimination and scratch races on Saturday evening. Imhoff finished third in the elimination race behind Oliver Wood (GBR) and Matthias Guilmette (CAN), and second in the scratch race behind Sebastian Mora (SP).
In the overall standings, Imhoff holds a 6-point lead over Guilmet and a 9-point lead over Mora. He said, "I am certainly tired after three weeks of tough racing, but there is only one more week to go.
Meanwhile, in the men's sprint event, Harry Lavraysen (Netherlands) held onto the overall lead after splitting with Matthew Richardson (Australia) in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Lavreysen beat Richardson in the sprint final, a result that was later reversed in the Keirin, with Richardson taking the lead over Lavreysen and Shinji Nakano (Japan) in third place.
"I gave it everything I had on the last lap and just kept on him," said Richardson. Harry rode really well. He stayed out of the sprint lane and pushed me wide, but I was going too fast and managed to bypass him," Richardson said.
The split decision in Paris left Lavriesen two points behind Richardson in the overall standings before the final two races next week.
"I'm going to approach the final race in London the same way I approach every other race. I just have to follow my process. I have to be satisfied with my performance so far. If everything goes wrong in the last two races, so be it. I've really enjoyed it so far and I hope I can carry this atmosphere with me to London."
The UCI Track Champions League concludes with a doubleheader at Lee Valley VeloPark in London on Friday and Saturday.
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