Track cycling | Things are unlocking for Mathias Guillemette

Mathias Guillemette took second place in the Scratch race and sixth in the elimination race on Saturday at the third stage of the Track Cycling Champions League presented in St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.

Results that seemed like a relief for the Trois-Rivières resident who was the third best of the day in the men’s endurance events with his 27 points.

“It feels good to finally see things unblocked! […] It’s more of a relief. I wanted to have my first victory, but I will get back in London (next week),” commented the athlete in an interview with Sportcom, adding that he learned to read the peloton better in order to implement more effective strategies. effective than in the first two stages of the League.

“I know a little more who to follow and who not to follow, which helps me a lot during the race. My goal was to do well in the Scratch race and I achieved that, in addition to collecting points in the elimination race. »

Another reason to rejoice for the Quebecer is that his teammate Dylan Bibic offered an impeccable performance on the track of the velodrome which will host the Olympic events next summer. The Ontarian won both endurance events: the Scratch in front of Guillemette and the elimination against the Belgian Jules Hesters.

Thanks to these two victories, the Canadian, aged only 20, takes the leader’s jersey in the men’s endurance events with 96 points, 26 more than Hesters. For her part, Guillemette is in seventh place with 49 points.

With two more stages to go, Guillemette believes that the top 5 of the final ranking still remains within reach.

“It’s achievable. Fifth is 8 points ahead of me and it’s not an extremely big gap. On the other hand, Dylan is really ahead. At the Scratch, I’m certainly capable of beating him in the sprint because it’s always close between him and me, but today, that wasn’t possible,” he concluded with a laugh.

A collision, but no breakage for Genest

In action in the women’s sprint events, Lauriane Genest was eliminated in the preliminary rounds of the Keirin, while she missed the cut of the first two qualifiers. Genest had a collision with the Chinese Lijuan Wang to his left. Both athletes remained on their bikes, except that the commissioners then disqualified Wang for changing her trajectory. However, this was not enough for the Quebecer to advance to the next round.

In the sprint, the Lévis athlete ranked 16^ean event in which Alberta’s Kelsey Mitchell took second place behind New Zealander and leader in the standings, Ellesse Andrews.

British Columbian Sarah van Dam won the Scratch race ahead of her compatriot Maggie Coles-Lyster. The latter is provisionally third in the women’s ranking of endurance events with 82 points, 20 points behind the leader, the British Katie Archibald.

The fourth stage will take place in London next Saturday and will be followed by the grand final the next day, at the same location.