The Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines is a venue used to hosting the biggest and best track cycling events on the planet. The UCI Track World Championships visited in 2015 and 2022, the Olympic Games are set to be held there next year, and it’s also going to host Round 3 of 2023 UCI Track Champions League on Saturday 4th November, sponsored by CIC.
Last season, this iconic location welcomed the UCI Track Champions League for the very first time. After two action-packed stops in Palma and Berlin, Round 3 proved a cracker with the intensity on the boards being matched by an electric crowd cheering the riders on. Here are three moments that certainly stood out to us:
Katie Archibald takes the fight to Jennifer Valente
2021 Women’s Endurance champion Katie Archibald didn’t have the best start to her title defence in Palma. She won the Scratch but surprised everyone when she wasn’t able to collect any points in the Elimination. She came back fighting in Berlin with back-to-back victories, but Jennifer Valente was able to maintain the blue jersey she’d held since Palma, so it was all to play for in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
The battle got underway with the Scratch, and Archibald was beaten for the first time in that particular event as her compatriot Sophie Lewis attacked for an impressive solo win. Behind the young Brit, Archibald and Valente crossed the line second and third places respectively, setting up a showdown in the Elimination.
Archibald needed at least four points more than the American if she was to move top of the overall standings at the end of the night, and the pair were once again inseparable. After a few nervous moments at the back of the bunch, Archibald moved herself up to the front with Valente glued to her wheel.
With Maggie Coles-Lyster last to be eliminated, Valente was safe in the league lead, but Archibald was very much still in the fight, winning the Elimination by riding Valente off her wheel to bring herself just one point short of the Endurance lead with only the London rounds to go.
Steffie van der Peet takes the favourites by surprise in the Keirin
The Women’s Keirin was hotly contested throughout the 2022 season with three different winners across the five rounds of action.
Success in the event was the foundation of Martha Bayona’s overall Sprint lead going into Round 3 after her first and second-placed finishes during the opening two rounds.
The Keirin event was open season in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines though as Bayona was unable to qualify for the final, beaten in her heat by Taky Marie-Divine Kouamé and Steffie van der Peet, both of whom made it through to their first UCI Track Champions League finals.
The young duo had their work cut out though, with a host of champions and world-class sprinters also making the concluding round. Mathilde Gros was a hot favourite alongside Shanne Braspennincx and Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell.
The action was hard and fast from the start, and while her Dutch compatriots aggressively marked their other rivals, van der Peet glued herself to Mitchell’s wheel until the last lap, when the 23-year-old began to pick up the pace. Slowly but surely van der Peet hauled back the Canadian until they were shoulder to shoulder, and then made one last kick along finishing straight, beating Gros to the line to wrap up an impressive yet somewhat unexpected success.
Mathilde Gros edges league leader Martha Bayona in front of home crowd
Home favourite Mathilde Gros was unbeaten heading into the Sprint final in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, taking scalps in Mallorca and Germany before landing on French soil.
Resplendent in the rainbow bands of sprint world champion – which she’d won on this very track – it was a safe route to the final for Gros, setting up the headline act of the night where she’d face league leader Martha Bayona in the Colombian’s first Sprint final.
The first lap was tantalisingly slow with Bayona’s gaze never wavering as Gros stole glances. The duo both accelerated into the second lap and Bayona, still behind, went high to use the steep banking to her advantage. With half a lap to go, the Colombian surged onto Gros’s hip with a ferocious turn of pace, but the world champion had another gear, sprinting to victory by more than a bike length. And the crowd erupted!
