UCI Track Champions League: Harrie Lavreysen v Matthew Richardson II, Paris 2024 Olympics stars – Storylines to watch

We are just days away from the start of the UCI Track Champions League 2023, with Round 1 taking place in Mallorca.

The world’s best track cyclists are assembling for another pulsating weekend of racing, with names new and old set to be written into the event’s already storied history.

Harrie Lavreysen is a special athlete, arguably the best men’s track sprinting has seen since Jason Kenny.

Having won individual and team sprint gold at the World Championships in Glasgow in August, Lavreysen is a solid favourite to retain the Olympic title in Paris next year. That means he is almost automatically odds-on to regain the Track Champions League title he first won at the inaugural event in 2021.

But there is a reason the broad-shouldered, ever-smiling Dutchman does not touch down in Mallorca as the incumbent, and it comes in the shape of a 24 year-old Australian: Matthew Richardson.

Last year, the men’s sprint competition couldn’t have been closer, with each man winning an event per round. In the end the pair were separated by two points in the standings, with Lavreysen’s fourth place in the keirin on the penultimate evening costing him overall victory. Will it be that close this time around?

The GB riders constitute a close-knit crew and have earned themselves a reputation for putting on something a show and playing to the crowd – even while they race hard to win.

Last year between them the British boys won six of ten endurance events across the series, beginning with Mark Stewart’s out-of-nowhere blistering turn of speed in the opening round scratch race.

Stewart might well repeat the trick, but he will face stiff competition in the form of his GB team-mate and the discipline’s recently crowned World Champion, Will Tidball.

In individual track cycling, teaming up is distinctly frowned upon, but you could see one of these riders aiming for the overall, while another targets “wins”, which could suit both to a tee. Another Will – Perrett – could find himself playing the role of spoiler.

Had she not uncharacteristically dropped the ball in the opening round elimination race, Katie Archibald would have surely won her second Track Champions League crown at a canter last year.

As it was, the double Olympic gold medallist left herself with too much of an early deficit to Jennifer Valente of the USA.

Two victories in Berlin, and another in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines meant she could still have managed it, but a subsequent (lesser) stumble in the same event on the first night in London left the Glasgow girl with too much to do as the curtain came down.

Valente, in contrast, while not blowing any doors off, managed a single victory over the series and had the consistency that is typically Archibald’s trademark. It’s reasonable to expect a more attentive performance from the star of British cycling this time around, with some thrilling finishes to boot.

The most conspicuous absentees from this season’s Track Champions League line-up are the three German sprinters: Emma Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich and Pauline Grabosch.

The reasons behind the decision to swerve the series are unknown, but they surely have something to do with preparations for next year’s Paris Olympics. The trio set a world record in the team sprint in Glasgow, but were run excruciatingly close – i.e. less than 1/10th of a second – by the British threesome of Emma Finucane, Sophie Capewell and Lauren Bell.

That the former of those three, Finucane and Capewell, will be hitting the circuit is evidence that the series supports their plans for Paris next year, and is perhaps a sign of the confidence that the British team are feeling as the calendar pages fall away.

Finucane won her first set of rainbow bands in Glasgow, beating Lea Friedrich to take the sprint title. In qualifying for the same event she even set a new world record for the flying 200m.

Add to that Richardson, Lavreysen, Archibald and Tidball – to name just a few of the gold medal contenders – and we’re set to see some of the best track riders in the world as they approach the peak of their powers.

And if you think that means you needn’t look beyond the old world for your track stars, think again.

Whether we’re talking Palma, Berlin, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines or London, the Europeans will have home advantage. But European track fans are an informed bunch – especially those in the British capital – and if there’s one thing they like it’s thrilling racing – irrespective of where it comes from.

On Saturday, we can expect to see plenty of long haulers in contention across both men’s and women’s categories of the endurance and sprint disciplines.

We know what Canadian sprinter Kelsey Mitchell can do when she’s dialled into her form. Martha Bayona of Colombia had a spellbinding final night in London last year, and was looking good in Glasgow in August. But the one to really watch is Ellesse Andrews.

The New Zealander came away from the recent worlds with gold in the keirin and a bronze in the sprint. At 23 it seems likely she’s still some way from reaching her potential.

On the men’s side of the same competition Kevin Quintero is the one to watch. The Colombian finished 7th overall in the inaugural TCL, and was up to 4th last year, having been there or thereabouts in every event. Him taking the keirin title in Glasgow gives us every reason to believe he’ll be a real contender this time round.

He turns 25 on October 28 – when the Track Champions League arrives in Paris.