The UCI Track Champions League resumed for round 2 at the Cido Arena in Panevėžys, Lithuania on Saturday.
Germany’s Emma Hinze and Great Britain’s Katie Archibald continue to lead the overall standings in the women’s sprint and endurance categories, respectively.
Sebastian Mora (Spain) moves into the lead of the men’s endurance overall standings and Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) increased his lead in the men’s sprint standings.
The remaining three rounds take place in London on December 3-4 and in Tel Aviv on December 11.
Hinze wins Women’s Sprint
The racing opened with First Round of the Women’s Sprint that offered six heats of three riders each where the winners moved onto the Semi-Finals. The winners of two semi-final heats then moved onto the finals; Emma Hinze (Germany), who came into round 2 leading the overall standings in the women’s sprint category, and Lauriane Genest (Canada) faced off for the win.
Hinze and Genest lined up side-by-side on the track to contest the final round for the victory. Hinze took the early lead and looked over her shoulder at the Canadian. Two laps to go, Hinze picked up her speed and carried it through to the finish line for the win.
Lavreyssen wins Men’s Keirin
The men’s Keirin opened with the First Round of three heats of six riders whereby the top two of each heat moved onto the final round that featured the top six riders: Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands), who was leading the overall standings in the men’s sprint category, Ryan Helal (France), Stefan Botticher (Germany), Vasilijus Lendel (Lithuania), Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) and Denis Dmitriev (Russia).
Hoogland tucked in behind the derny and looked back at his comptetitors once the motor pulled off the front. Although the Dutchman lost a place of two, he managed to make up some ground but only enough to finish second place behind his compatriot and winner Lavreyssen, while Botticher finished third.
Mora wins Men’s Scratch Race
The men’s Scratch Race offered the 18-rider field 20 laps. The field largely stayed together and it was Rhys Britton (Great Britain) who led the race into the final lap. He put forth a massive surge and looked as though he could hang onto the lead, however, he was pipped at the line by winner Sebastian Mora (Spain). Gavin Hoover (USA) finished in third place.
Archibald wins Women’s Scratch Race
Like the men’s event, the women’s Scratch Race also offered the 18-rider field 20 laps. Katie Archibald (Great Britian) wore the special kit as the overall leader of the women’s endurance category. After a falsh start, the women lined up again with nine riders on either side of the track along the railing and the blue band.
Kirsten Wild (Netherlands) led the field through the first lap but by five laps in Archibald attacked to go solo. Wild went on the chase to close down the gap and did so with 11 laps to go. Karolina Karasiewicz (Poland) was the next to attack and four more bridged across, but with four laps to go, it was all back together. Archibald then led the field through the bell lap and held on for the victory, as Maggie Coles-Lyster (Canada) finished second and Yumi Kajihara (Japan) in third.
Women’s Elimination
The women’s Elimination Race saw 18 riders competing for the honours whereby one rider was eliminated from the race on every other lap and the last two riders left on the track sprinted for the victory.
Kirsten Wild was, unluckily, the first to be eliminated after unclipping from her pedal on the first bell sprint. Silvia Zinardi (Italy) attacked with three laps to go but was caught and was the last rider eliminated. Archibald further added to her overall standings in the women’s endurance after taking the win in a long-range sprint ahead of Anita Yvonne Stenberg (Norway).
Mora wins Men’s Elimination Race
Eighteen riders competed for the honours in the men’s Elimination Race with one rider was eliminated from the race every other lap.
The event is all about position and half way through the race men’s endurance overall leader Corbin Strong (Great Britain) was caught down on the blue band, blocked in with no where to go, and subsequently eliminated.
Aaron Gate (New Zealand) led Sebastian Mora through the last lap but it was Mora who took the sprint win.
Friedrich wins Women’s Keirin
The women’s Keirin opened with the First Round of three heats of six riders whereby the top two of each heat moved onto the final round of the top six riders: Emma Hinze (Germany) and Lea Friedrich (Germany), Kelsey Mitchell (Canada), Laurine van Riessen (Netherlands), Riyu Ohta (Japan) and Martha Bayona Pineda (Colombia).
The derny set off with Friedrich tucking in behind and as the motor swung off the women saw three laps to go. Friedrich remained out front ahead of her compatriot Hinze with Mitchell making her move on the last lap. However, it was Friedrich who took the win, unchallenged, ahead of Hinze and Mitchell.
Men’s Sprint
The Men’s Sprint kicked off with six heats of three riders each where the winners moved onto the Semi-Finals of two heats of three riders each. The winners of these heats faced each other in the finals between Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) and Nicholas Paul (Trinidad and Tobago).
The final between Paul and Lavreysen closed out the event. Lavreysen took the lead and then slowed, foring he and Paul into a track stand. Paul jumped and gained a gap, and though it looked like he might take the win, Lavreysen just passed him at the line.
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