Lavreysen dominates sprint races on round 2 of UCI Track Champions League

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Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) increased his lead in the men's sprint standings with a pair of wins on Saturday at the Cido Arena in Panevėžys, Lithuania for round 2 of the UCI Track Cycling League.

"It feels good to have extended my lead in the sprint series. There is not a lot of pressure riding in the blue kit, but it’s nice to win in it, of course,” the world and Olympic sprint champion said about retaining his overall lead in the series.

Competition continues December 3-4 in London for back-to-back rounds and then culminates with a fifth and final round in Tel Aviv on December 11.

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Sprint

The Men's Sprint kicked off with six heats of three riders each where the winners moved onto the Semi-Finals of two heats of three riders each. The winners of these heats faced each other in the finals between Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) and Nicholas Paul (Trinidad and Tobago).

The final between Paul and Lavreysen closed out the event. Lavreysen took the lead and then slowed, foring he and Paul into a track stand. Paul jumped and gained a gap, and though it looked like he might take the win, Lavreysen just passed him at the line.

"I think Nicholas Paul had a great ride, he surprised me. I felt like I could just get him at the end so I was really happy to still win. For sure the other riders can challenge me. A lot of them can. But for now, I’m on top and it feels good, very good,” Lavreysen said.

Keirin

The men's Keirin opened with the First Round of three heats of six riders whereby the top two of each heat moved onto the final round that featured the top six riders: Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands), who was leading the overall standings in the men's sprint category, Ryan Helal (France), Stefan Botticher (Germany), Vasilijus Lendel (Lithuania), Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) and Denis Dmitriev (Russia).

Hoogland tucked in behind the derny and looked back at his comptetitors once the motor pulled off the front. Although the Dutchman lost a place or two, he managed to make up some ground but only enough to finish second place behind his compatriot and winner Lavreyssen, while Botticher finished third.