UCI Track Champions League 2023: Harrie Lavreysen takes Sprint double on opening night in Mallorca

It was a perfect night for Harrie Lavreysen in Mallorca as he won both the sprint and the keirin events in the opening round of the 2023 UCI Track Champions League season.

Ellesse Andrews – in the keirin – was among the winners on the women’s side as the much-anticipated action on the boards got underway for another year, live on Eurosport and discovery+.

Kicking off the Sprint discipline on the night in Palma was the men’s individual sprint, and arguably the contest of the night took place in the semi-finals, as Lavreysen edged out Australian rival Matthew Richardson in the latest instalment of their growing rivalry.

That put Lavreysen into the final against France’s Tom Derache, and though the latter was on the front going into the last lap, it was the Dutchman who stormed to victory with one of his now trademark powerful late surges.

The women’s individual sprint event saw Britain’s Emma Finucane take to the boards up against Germany’s Alessa Catriona-Propster. Finucane, in her rainbow world champion’s jersey, was perhaps the favourite but she left it too late to close the gap on her opponent, and had to settle for second.

The culmination of the night was the keirin, and both the men’s and women’s contests were compelling.

The men came into the velodrome first, with Lavreysen up against Richardson and Derache – again – as well as Kevin Quintero.

There was no stopping Lavreysen, who picked up another 20 points to add to his tally, and take the Sprint League lead going into next week’s event in Berlin.

In the women’s keirin, it was New Zealand’s Andrews who took victory, as the world champion showed all her power and track nous.