Harrie Lavreysen: 'Track Champions League is going to be even harder this year'
/dnl.tntsports.co.uk/sd/img/placeholder/tnt_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Published 20/10/2023 at 18:44 GMT+1
Harrie Lavreysen has arrived in Mallorca for the Track Champions League hungry to avenge the overall defeat he suffered to Australian Matthew Richardson last year. Although the five-time sprint world champion sees Richardson as his biggest rival, "there’s going to be 16 other riders and they can all surprise. I don’t want to focus on just one."
Lavreysen.
Image credit: Getty Images
“I expect Matthew Richardson to be my biggest rival," says Harrie Lavreysen, on the eve of the opening night of the Track Champions League 2023.
Few would bet against one of them lifting the trophy in London on November 11 - with all the action live on Eurosport and discovery+.
Few would bet against one of them lifting the trophy in London on November 11 - with all the action live on Eurosport and discovery+.
Between them the Australian and the Dutchman won every event in 2022, with neither taking both sprint and keirin on the same evening. Richardson took the overall title by just two points - a result of one better placing in one round of one event.
Apart from being very fast on a bike, Richardson's strength, says Lavreysen, is being "really consistent and really good at keeping in shape for four weeks. There was no sign of fatigue across the competition, just within the rounds. Week in, week out, he was in the same shape.”
Lavreysen doesn't like to lose, and that one clearly still stings. He is, however, ready to draw upon and learn from it.
Lavreysen doesn't like to lose, and that one clearly still stings. He is, however, ready to draw upon and learn from it.
“Of course I feel a bit more pressure," he says ahead of the opening night in Malllorca on Saturday, "but last year I could only lose. I won everything in the first season. This year I’m trying to be a bit more relaxed, see how every round goes and be a bit more consistent for the points.”
To the racing itself he says he plans to go into it with “the same approach.”
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2023/08/09/3759947-76488868-2560-1440.jpg)
'That's brilliant!' - Quintero claims surprise keirin World Championships win
Video credit: TNT Sports
Lavreysen is also not expecting this year's sprint competition to be the two-horse race it was in 2022, naming Colombian Kevin Quintero as a rider who can challenge their dominance.
"Kevin won the World Championship in the keirin [in Glasgow] and I think he really stepped up," Lavreysen says. "I think me and Matthew can expect a bit more rivalry from the other riders. It’s going to be even harder this year. There’s going to be 16 other riders and they can all surprise. I don’t want to focus on just one."
Mateusz Rudyk of Poland is another rider Lavreysen thinks could challenge, while Israeli Mikhail Yakovlev also "made some big improvements this year.”
One man Lavreysen will not be competing against is his Dutch team-mate and close friend, Jeffrey Hoogland.
"I’m definitely going to miss Jeffrey," he says. "We almost do every race together, but he’s going for the world record in the kilometre.”
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2023/08/08/3759300-76475928-2560-1440.jpg)
'He does it again!' - Hoogland claims third successive 1km time trial gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
Lavreysen is aware that, with Paris 2024 only 280 days away, a number of riders - most notably the German women's sprint trio of Emma Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich and Pauline Grabosch - have opted to take a year off the Track Champions League "in order to prepare."
The 26-year-old also has an Olympic sprint crown to defend but for him "this is good preparation. I like to do these races. The short time between them means it’s hard to recover from the races and that’s good training.”
Of the two events he will race at the Track Champions League, the keirin and the sprint, Lavreysen prefers the latter, "because it’s a bit more in my own hands. In the sprint if you’re the quickest rider and you lose, you've probably made a mistake."
"Winning a keirin is really cool, though," he adds.
Between Mallorca and London “I hope to win as much as possible," he says "but it’s not possible to win every round.”
Whatever happens over the next four weeks, “it feels good to be back.”
Whatever happens over the next four weeks, “it feels good to be back.”
- -
The UCI Track Champions League begins on Saturday, October 21 in Mallorca. Watch every minute on Eurosport and discovery+
Share this article
Related Topics
Advertisement
Advertisement