Reigning world champion in individual speed, the Frenchwoman won the Track Cycling Champions League on Saturday in the sprint.
Mathilde Gros, world champion in individual speed, won the general classification of the sprint of the Track Cycling Champions League, of which it was the second edition, on Saturday evening in London. She becomes the first Frenchwoman to win in this disputed competition in five stages which took place in recent weekends in Mallorca, Berlin and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, before ending on a double evening Friday and Saturday. in the British capital.
This success is a new step in the career of Mathilde Gros, 23, on the road to the Paris Olympics where she hopes to become Olympic champion in 2024. She had become world champion in individual speed, the queen event of the track, last October at the Worlds in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in the same velodrome where the Games will take place in less than two years.
Speed offset keirin
The Champions League, a new-look competition in a condensed format over an evening, includes two sprint events (speed, keirin) and two endurance events (scratch, elimination). A general ranking is established for sprint and endurance, both for men and for women.
Mathilde Gros finished first in the sprint after winning the sprint in four of the five rounds, in Mallorca, Berlin, Saint-Quentin and on Saturday evening in London, thus compensating for her poorer results in the keirin.
In the combined general classification of these two disciplines, she is ahead of the Canadian Kelsey Mitchell and the Dutch Shanne Braspennincx. The other Frenchwoman, Marie-Divine Kouamé, world champion in the 500m, ranks ninth.
Richardson sacred in men
Small sensation among the men where the thrilling mano a mano between the Australian Matthew Richardson and the king of the sprint, the Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen, Olympic champion and multiple world champion, turned in favor of the first.
In front after the first four stages, Richardson first lost the lead on Saturday after being beaten in the speed. But the Australian took it back at the very end of the evening by winning by a few centimeters in front of the Dutchman in the keirin after a formidable last straight line.
The Swiss Claudio Imhof and the American Jennifer Valente for their part won the general classification of the endurance category.