Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup: The French shine in Cairo

French riders were the most successful in the second round of the 2023 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup, claiming eight medals (including three gold) in Cairo, Egypt.

Their performances showed that they are on the right track for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They already claimed many accolades, and seven medals (including three gold), when they welcomed the best experts from around the globe to the velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines for the 2022 Tissot UCI Track World Championships. Now they’re dominating the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup.

After two rounds, in Jakarta (Indonesia) and most recently in Cairo (March 14-17), France leads the overall standings in a series that will prove essential in qualification for the upcoming UCI Worlds and Olympic Games. The “Bleus” had a strong first round and were even more successful last week, claiming eight medals (more than any other nation), including three victories which, again, is a tally that no other selection has matched.

Their strength was manifest at every level: collectively and individually, in men’s and women’s events, furiously sprinting or ruling the endurance races… and as such they naturally lead the overall standings with a total of 23,870 points (12,441 of them came in Cairo, with the other 11,429 points racked up in Jakarta). Great Britain (20,743 points) and the Netherlands (19,724) are their closest rivals ahead of the third and final round of the series, in Milton (Canada, April 20-23).

French leaders and rising stars rally for glory

French stars shone from the very first event in Egypt (women’s team pursuit) all the way to the last one (the points race of the women’s omnium). On each occasion they battled against New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston, a rising and already dominant force in the velodromes, who had claimed three gold medals in Indonesia.

Part of the team pursuit, Wollaston led the qualifying with Bryony Botha, Samantha Donnelly and Emily Shearman (4’19’’616). But the Frenchwomen were hot on their wheels, with Victoire Berteau, Valentine Fortin, Marion Borras and Marie Le Net clocking in 4’20’’027. After having to settle for silver in the opening round, they upped their game to beat the Kiwis in the final (4’13’’820 vs 4’15’’000).

This first success called for many more. Clara Copponi and Fortin partnered up in the Madison, also taking gold, this time ahead of Denmark’s stellar duo Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth. Rounding out the podium was New Zealand, represented again by Botha and Wollaston.

France’s third gold medal came from a true pillar of the selection. Already a UCI World Champion in 2014, Thomas Boudat impressed again in the omnium, claiming a commanding success with 139 points, while Italy’s Elia Viviani (119 points) and Germany’s Roger Kluge (117) battled to join him on the podium.

Already among the most consistent French performers at only 22 years old, Victoire Berteau also made a significant contribution to the French tally. She rode in the team pursuit qualifying and went on to claim two silver medals on her own, in the omnium (won by… Ally Wollaston) and the elimination race (which saw Jennifer Valente’s first success of the year after the American star missed the opening round).

Lavreysen and Wollaston rack up the successes

France’s versatility spanned to the men’s team sprint (silver for Timmy Gillian, Rayan Helal and Sébastien Vigier), the men’s team pursuit (silver for Thomas Denis, Corentin Ermenault, Quentin Lafargue and Valentin Tabellion) and the women’s team sprint (bronze for Mathilde Gros, Taky Marie Divine Kouamé and Julie Michaux).

Conversely, the Netherlands took three medals in Cairo, with their two golds coming from sprint events, Harrie Lavreysen’s bread and butter. The Oranje beast dominated the individual sprint, ahead of Israel’s Mikhail Yakovlev and Japan’s Ota Kaiya, who managed to win the first round against Lavreysen in the semi-final.

With Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg, Lavreysen also won the team sprint - the Dutch Olympic Champions reasserted their dominance after Australia had won the first round in Jakarta, following their UCI World Champions title last year in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. But Lavreysen was less successful in the keirin, as he tumbled in the quarter-finals. Japan’s Shinji Nakano dominated a fully Asian podium, ahead of Malaysia’s Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom and another Japanese sprinter, Kaiya Ota.

One more nation managed to take two gold medals in Cairo: Great Britain, through William Tidball (men’s elimination) and Emma Finucane (women’s sprint). And a handful of riders managed to repeat success from Indonesia to Egypt.

Danish men (Carl-Frederik Bevort, Tobias Hansen, Rasmus Pedersen and Robin Skivild) dominated the team pursuit again. Germany’s Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt were as brilliant as ever in the men’s Madison. Mina Sato claimed a second successive victory in the women’s keirin, after taking silver in the last two UCI World Championships.

And, naturally, Wollaston rounded out the event with a victory in the omnium, edging Berteau (139 points vs 131) thanks to her aggressive and efficient performance in the points race.