Chris Hoy anticipating ‘fascinating’ showdown between Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny at UCI Track Champions League
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Updated 10/11/2022 at 20:40 GMT
The Track Champions League returns with the first race of the second season in Mallorca on Saturday November 12, with the action starting at 5:30pm UK time. Nick Christian spoke to Sir Chris Hoy ahead of the first round of action. Seven-time Olympic medalist Hoy says he is expecting a fascinating battle between Great Britain team-mates Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny.
Archibald on injuries, rivalry with Kenny and ‘goosebumpy’ Track Champions League
Sir Chris Hoy has told Eurosport that he is expecting a "fascinating" showdown between Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny at the UCI Track Champions League 2022.
The biggest storyline of the second running of the event is set to be the battle between the two GB team-mates Archibald and Kenny in the women’s endurance competition.
A stronger women’s endurance field in 2022 means that Hoy does not expect the second series of the Track Champions League to be as much of a walk in the park for Archibald as the first.
Last year Archibald won five of the eight events across the four rounds, including all four elimination races.
“It felt like it was a bit of a one-horse race,” says Hoy.
“She could still dominate again this year, who knows, but it's going to be a lot tougher for her if she does. I think we're going to see a very different women's endurance league.”
Kenny is the rider most expected to challenge Archibald’s supremacy. So often seen on the same side - both of Archibald’s Olympic golds, in the team pursuit in Rio and in the Madison in Tokyo, came alongside Kenny - it is something of an unknown how it will play out when they go up against each other.
"They've had so much success together, but usually, one gets picked to do an event over the other, so you never really see them racing. Unless it's the national championship, you don't often see them racing head-to-head. So this will be fascinating to see how it pans out.”
As well as being colleagues on the GB endurance programme, the two are close friends, and both have experienced tragedy in the last 12 months.
Kenny has said previously that she considered walking away from cycling after being left at "breaking point" by a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy. Archibald’s partner, Scottish mountain bike champion Rab Wardell, died on August 24 after suffering a cardiac arrest while lying in bed.
“We always knew they were tough on the track, but they’re just as tough off it, and both of them in their own ways,” seven-time Olympic medalist Hoy added. “I think you only realise how strong you are when you're properly challenged…I'm just so pleased to see they're both competing.”
After all she has gone through this year, there was no guarantee that Archibald would return to defend the title she won last year in London.
Hoy says the 28-year-old “has talked about the need to have some normality in her day and purpose and a focus. Training has given her that. To have a target is important too, so I think she will relish just being out on the track. When you're in the heat of the moment, you don't think of anything else apart from that race.”
Hoy knows better than most what it’s like to have a friend and team-mate as your closest competitor. For the final years of his racing career, the only rider who could come close to him in the sprint was Laura Kenny’s husband Jason. He says a close personal relationship with a track cycling team-mate can actually help them get the best out of each other.
Archibald and Kenny, he says, "inspire each other to work harder."
Hoy doesn’t think Kenny will necessarily be Archibald’s only challenger, though.
“The overall standard of the women's endurance has gone up immeasurably,” he says. “You've got Olympic champion Jennifer Valente here as well, and Rachele Barbieri, who is European omnium and Madison champion."
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Archibald makes it four from four in elimination race
The men’s endurance field, though objectively not quite as strong, has impressed Hoy with the quality of the riders who have been tempted to appear this time around.
“There's so many amazing athletes in there,” says Hoy.
"There's Ollie Wood for Britain, and Will Perrett as well. Will is desperately trying to fight his way onto the Olympic squad and was gutted not to win a medal at the World's in the points race. He'll be one to watch out for because he's going to use this as a platform to try and establish himself as one of the big things.”
Hoy is an authentic, full blown believer in the Track Champions League - the enthusiasm with which he speaks about it comes from the heart.
“To create something from scratch, it's hard to overstate how big a challenge that is,” Hoy says, remembering the first edition a year ago. “How smoothly it went was remarkable. And I think it is going to gain momentum. It'll be exponential, because it's just getting the general public out there to start caring about the individual riders and actually buying it.”
Hoy isn’t just saying that. The opening incarnation of the Track Champions League reached 149 million people across the Warner Bros. Discovery network alone.
“The riders I’ve talked to about it know this is something special,” says Hoy. “And I think the fans are engaging. It's interesting to see how many of the spectators were first-timers as well.”
Almost 20,000 people packed the three different velodromes across the four nights of competition in 2021, a figure which is only expected to increase this year.
“I would predict that by 2028, when the final season happens, there will be sufficient momentum [to keep it going]. [By then] every single rider in the world, all the top riders are going to be desperate to be here.”
“The fans will know all about it. I think it will be the vehicle that drags the rest of track cycling along and almost leads the way. We need to fill in the gaps because there is a passion and interest and a desire to watch track cycling. It's so exciting.”
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'Ooo, hello!' - UCI TCL best bits: Thrills and spills in the velodrome
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After a great debut season, the UCI Track Champions League is back for season two, with Laura Kenny joining the party. You can watch it all live and on demand on discovery+. We will have extensive coverage across eurosport.com and the first race is in Mallorca on Saturday Nov 12, with the action starting at 5:30pm UK time.
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