November 13/23 11:21 am - Dylan Bibic Wins Champions League Title

Posted by Editoress on 11/13/23
 

The third season of the UCI Track Champions League concluded on Saturday with the fifth and final round in London, UK. Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand), Katie Archibald (Great Britain), Dylan Bibic (Canada) and Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) won the overall titles in the Sprint and Endurance categories for women and men. As well as being awarded their jerseys, the quartet also received the UCI Track Champions League trophy and equal prize money totalling €25,000 [approximately $37,000 CDN] per rider.









Bibic took four victories on the way to his first Men's Endurance crown and, despite not winning in the final round, the 20 year old from Milton, Ontario, wrapped up the overall title by finishing sixth in the Scratch and 11th in the Elimination. Bibic was the only rider to win more than one event in the Men's Endurance.

He won the Elimination in the opening round in Mallorca, Spain, won the Scratch at Round 2 in Berlin, Germany, and took the overall lead in Round 3, at Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, when he won both the Scratch and Elimination races, and held it through the final two back-to-back rounds in London on Friday and Saturday. In the final standings, Bibic beat William Tidball (GBr) by 14 points, with Jules Hesters (Belgium) a further four points in arrears. The only other Canadian in the men's Endurance series, Mathias Guillemette, finished tenth overall.

Bibic stated after the final round, "I came here to win and it feels good to have achieved that goal. I've been in defence mode for these last two rounds and did what I had to do. After I'd sealed my overall win in the Scratch [finishing tenth], it meant I could mess about a bit in the Elimination and have fun, and it's been nice to round off the season that way."

Lavreysen [Men's Sprint] and Archibald [Women's Endurance] held the leader's blue jersey from beginning to end in their Series'. Canada had no riders in the Men's Sprint series, but the two in the Women's Endurance, where each had strong performances, with Maggie Coles-Lyster finishing fifth overall, including two second places and a third, and Sarah van Dam finishing sixth overall, including a win in the Scratch [Round 3] and a second place result.

Harrie Lavreysen was completely dominant in the Men's Sprint series, winning seven of ten races, and finishing second in the other three.

In the Women's Sprint series, Andrews was almost as dominant as Lavreysen, winning six events out of ten. Canada had two riders competing, with Kelsey Mitchell finishing eighth overall, including one second place, and Lauriane Genest right behind her in ninth, including two fourth places.

Full results