The fastest man in the world, Harrie Lavreysen returned to the streets of his home village for a Monday evening of sprint competition against his fellow Dutch stars – and a guest from Great Britain, none other than Matthew Richardson.

The village, with a reported population of around 3,500 welcomed a crowd of over 7,000 to its annual criterium event, which this year included a Sprint Cup event – featuring ‘keirin on the road’.

An Instagram video shows Lavreysen won the keirin final ahead of Jeffrey Hoogland, with Richardson in third.

“This is what I always dreamed of, to become champion of Luyksgestel again,” the world champion joked afterwards.

“It’s great that this was organised. It was perfect (and) great to see the people enjoying it too. That motivates us as riders, to give it our all – of course, we take good care of each other, so we don’t do anything strange, or get injured here on the asphalt.”

Of course it was not the first time that the village had celebrated its most famous son. But Lavreysen was clearly touched by the number of fellow top-level riders who had joined the occasion.

Richardson seemed to enjoy the experience too. “We only see each other at moments of tension,” he said. “I have spoken to Harrie more today than I have in ten years.”