Cyclist Nicholas Paul returns to the track for inaugural UCI Champions League

IN-FORM cyclist Nicholas Paul continues his hectic 2021 season at the inaugural International Cycling Union (UCI) Champions League which gets under way at the Balearic Islands Velodrome in Palma, Spain on Saturday.

Paul will contest the men’s sprint and kierin events. The Champions League however, does not feature the 1km time trial event, one which Paul has shone brightly in recently, winning gold at the Nations Cup in Colombia (September 11) and then ending a 30-year medal drought for TT at Track Cycling World Championships in France (October 22) by capturing bronze.

He will be the only national cyclist at the Champions League.

Paul is expected to face a tough test as current keirin and sprint UCI world champion Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) will line up alongside Olympic team sprint Champion Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands), top-ten UCI ranked Vasilijus Lendel (Lithuania) and top-six Olympic sprinters Maximillian Levy (Germany) and Denis Dmitriev (Russia).

The 24-year-old speedster however, is also a feared contender on the track as he remains the reigning flying 200m world record holder.

At the Tokyo Olympics, he placed sixth in the men’s sprint and 12th in the keirin. The Gasparillo resident then won triple gold at the Nations Cup (sprint, keirin and 1km time trial) and a historic time trial bronze at Worlds.

Before his World Championships display, Paul returned to his training base at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland to continue working under Scottish coach Craig McLean.

After this weekend’s Champions League debut, the sprint cyclist concludes a busy competitive year with the four remaining legs scheduled for Lithuania (November 27), London (December 3 and 4) and concludes in Tel Aviv, Israel (December 11).

Once again, the rider will not return home for the Christmas holiday and having opted to stay in Switzerland in preparation for another event-filled 2022.