Any preview of the Shanghai world championship sprint competitions would almost certainly have led with the latest round of the era’s defining rivalry, Harrie Lavreysen vs Matthew Richardson.
But of course, all those drafts had to be hastily rewritten when news broke on Monday that Richardson had been sent home by British Cycling, amid allegations of inappropriate language and remarks. The double European champion has said he will co-operate fully with British Cycling’s processes, ‘with contrition for the feelings of anyone who might be affected’.
So instead, it’s all about Lavreysen versus…. well, if you cast your eye down the UCI rankings, you’d be looking at: Nicholas Paul, ranked number one since April? Leigh Hoffman, who has got the job done every time it has mattered this year? Kaiya Ota, with two Asian sprint titles in six months? Kevin Quintero, with gold medal upon gold medal these past few months – or Cristian Ortega, who won the one event Quintero didn’t?
There are good cases to be made for all of them. But the narratives which have been building over the past few months are the resurgence of the Chinese team under Benoît Vêtu, riding this time with home advantage… and Azizulhasni Awang, eager to give the best possible sendoff to Malaysian team boss John Beasley, ahead of his move to Japan.
The men’s keirin takes place on Thursday, with 34 riders currently listed as starters. We’ll have a first round with repechages, then quarter finals, semis, and finals due at lunchtime European time (1225 London, 1325 Paris).
Women’s keirin is scheduled for Sunday, with Mina Sato looking to make it three world keirin titles in a row. She has been unbeatable at home in JKA racing, but her UCI record this year is mixed by her own high standards: her only win in a UCI-ranking keirin event since worlds last year came at Japanese nationals.
Stefany Cuadrado comes to Shanghai as world number one: but all her best results this year have come closer to home. She briefly surrendered the top spot in the rankings to Lea Sophie Friedrich, another rider whose best results in the last 12 months have come at home in Germany.
Emma Finucane had a stellar Commonwealth Games at home in August; but she has fared better on her travels this year, winning at Europeans in Konya, Track World Cup in Hong and Malaysia, and on the future Olympic track in Los Angeles.
Ellesse Andrews, Mathilde Gros and Hetty van de Wouw have had plenty of keirin practice, spending large chunks of their summer in Japanese domestic competition, with plenty of success between them.
But the Chinese resurgence has been even more dramatic in the women’s events – and with home advantage behind Yuan Liying and Wang Lijuan, who delivered another one-two result at Asian Games two weeks ago, following on from Asian continental champs in March, they could be the riders to beat.
It will be the same competition format as the men, with first-round reps and a quarter final stage. European viewers can enjoy the semi-finals over breakfast, with the medals decided at 0844 London, 0944 Paris.
