Matthew Richardson admitted he is struggling to find his feet in Japan’s more combative keirin competition, recording another last place as the second Keirin World Series event concluded.

Competing in the middle of Sunday’s race programme, following his last place on Saturday, Richardson 3 seemed to be setting up for a big attack from the back of the line. But he appeared to be spinning out in the back straight, and wasn’t able to make progress up the line.

A rider emerged from the line at the bottom of the track, and for a moment it seemed like he might give Richardson a tow towards the front. But he didn’t have the legs; and instead became an obstacle to Richardson’s progress. The British rider knew the game was up, and eased off, finishing last for the second successive race.

His compatriot Joe Truman 2 qualified for the men’s main final, and made full use of the Kokura arena’s racing surface to claim second position as they entered the final lap. Truman emerged from the final corner in the lead, but two riders came up his outside, to leave him third in a tight finish. Ayato Abe 7, bronze at UCI junior worlds in 2022, took the win by half a wheel from Soma Ito 5.

In the women’s final, the two foreign guest riders again finished first and second – but this time, the result stood, with Hetty van de Wouw 2 taking the win – and handing Ellesse Andrews 6 her first defeat in Japan.

The Dutch rider seemed to want to follow the Kiwi to the front, but was briefly boxed in, and had to take the long way over the top. Andrews held the lead out of the final bend, but van de Wouw had all the momentum, and she eased past a tiring Andrews to win by three-quarters of a length.

With two Keirin World Series events now complete, it’s remarkable that every race featuring a foreign woman has been won by a foreign woman – with the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record being Mathilde Gros‘s DQ in the women’s final at the first event.