Harrie Lavreysen has no regrets despite narrow defeat to Matthew Richardson in Men’s Sprint at Track Champions League

Harrie Lavreysen believes he “didn’t do anything wrong” and is “happy” with his second place behind Matthew Richardson after a thrilling end to the Men’s Sprint league in London.

Both riders won all 10 sprint events across the 2022 UCI Track Champions League between them, underlining the dominance they had over the field.

“After yesterday I knew [there was a chance] I could not win it [the title],” Lavreysen told Eurosport.

“I felt really strong today and I’m happy because I felt I didn’t do anything wrong. He had a perfect spot on my wheel and I couldn’t go any quicker.

“I hoped in the keirin final Steffan [Botticher] would be on my wheel. But me and Matt were so high above the rest and that made it harder because we only had to look at each other.”

Lavreysen has been a dominant force in men’s sprinting over the last five years having won 11 gold medals at the World Championships, plus two Olympic gold medals from Tokyo 2020.

Richardson’s overall victory was unexpected with nearly everyone thinking Lavreysen would defend his Track Champions League title.

The 23-year-old revealed he messaged the Dutchman before the final night of racing in London to tell him “what a season” they had together.

“To be in a position to win it this year, I couldn’t have imagined that at 3am on my couch last year, so it’s pretty surreal,” said Richardson, who watched the inaugural edition of the Track Champions League from home.

“In the final race, I took a bit of a chance because I originally wanted to put as much distance between myself and Harrie as possible like I did yesterday.

“But the fast boys were all in front so I thought I would let them have a bit of a play and try and come around in the last corner.”

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