The first day of competition at the 2025 Tissot UCI Track World Championships saw three titles awarded in the Peñalolén velodrome of Santiago (Chile). The Netherlands’ Lorena Wiebes set a spectacular tone as she won the women’s scratch a couple of weeks after her triumph at the UCI Gravel World Championships. Her compatriots went on to rule both team sprints, with Steffie van der Peet, Hetty van de Wouw, and Kimberly Kalee in the women’s competition, and Jeffrey Hoogland, Roy van den Berg, and Harrie Lavreysen in the men’s.
The day also produced the first battles in the men’s and women’s team pursuits, ahead of the discipline’s finals which will be raced on Thursday. Rainbow jerseys will also be at stake in the men’s points race, the men’s kilometre time trial, the men’s individual pursuit, the women’s sprint, and the women’s omnium.
Women’s scratch: Wiebes illuminates the track
A leading figure of the UCI Women’s WorldTour for years already, the Netherlands’ Lorena Wiebes has developed a versatile skillset that makes her a winner in many different environments, as most spectacularly illustrated in the last two weeks, away from the road competitions where she so often shines.
On Thursday, Wiebes powered to the first gold medal up for grabs this week in Santiago as she successfully defended the title she already took in the women’s scratch in 2024, her first participation at the UCI Track Worlds. The Oranje fast woman claims her second rainbow jersey in 11 days, after ruling the roads and paths of South Limburg at the 2025 Bolero UCI Gravel World Championships.
Away from the rugged and dusty challenges that crowned her at home, Wiebes mastered the track of Santiago to get the better of Denmark’s Amalie Dideriksen and New Zealand's Prudence Fowler in a hard fought race covering 40 laps (10km) in 11’58’’ (50.139km/h). Lithuania’s Olivija Baleišyte and France’s Marion Borras had accelerated inside the final five laps but were reeled in by the field as the bell rang.
“I’m happy that I’m able to change [disciplines] so quickly,” Wiebes said after donning her new rainbow jersey. “I’m a bit more used to the track than last year. My positioning wasn’t that good in the last four laps but I was lucky that another rider needed to move up and I could use her slipstream. I kept believing and it worked out!”
Women’s team sprint: Dutch topple the Brits
The Netherlands had never won the UCI World Champion title in the women’s team sprint, but Steffie van der Peet, Hetty van de Wouw and Kimberly Kalee rose to rainbow glory in Santiago. The trio clocked a time of 45.743 (59.025km/h) to get the better of Great Britain’s Emma Finucane, Iona Moir and Rhianna Parris-Smith (46.003, 58.692km/h). Crowned last year, Team GB had the best start before seeing the Dutch sprinters topple them.
Australia’s Alessia McCaig, Molly McGill and Kristine Perkins dominated the Polish trio (Marlena Karwacka, Urszula Los and Nikola Seremak) to complete the top three, just like they did in 2024. A fourth Australian team member, LiliyaTatarinoff, also stood on the podium to receive a bronze medal after she raced the qualifying with McGill and McCaig.
“It was really difficult because it was very close the whole day,” Van der Peet said. “The first [in qualifying] we were second so we were like: ‘We need to step up our game’; and I think we did. It was just enough for this gold so I’m really proud of us.” A three-time silver medallist last year in Ballerup (Denmark), Van de Wouw added: “It’s really great to finally get a gold and it’s even more special to get it together with the girls.”
Men’s team sprint: more gold for Lavreysen, Hoogland and Van den Berg
More historic fireworks capped off the session as the Netherlands retained their crown in the men’s team sprint. This time, it took a monstrous finish from Jeffrey Hoogland, after strong turns by Roy van den Berg and Harrie Lavreysen, to get the better of Great Britain’s Matthew Richardson, Joseph Truman and Hamish Turnbull. The Dutch sprinters covered the three laps in 41.691 (64.762km/h), against Team GB’s 42.060 (64.194km/h).
The Netherlands have now won seven of the last eight UCI World Champion titles in the team sprint, Australia being the exception in 2022 (a trio that included Richardson, before he switched from representing Australia to Team GB. Lavreysen’s record for the most rainbow jerseys claimed at the UCI Track World Championships is now up to 17.
“We got some quick times here and I’m really happy we can wear the rainbow for another year,” Lavreysen rejoiced. “We felt pretty comfortable but the rest of the countries were pretty quick as well,” Hoogland added. “We train together and every training is full gas, that’s the blend to win,” Van den Berg concluded, celebrating “a good start” for the Netherlands.