Paul pedals to Champions League sprint silver

NATIONAL CYCLIST Nicholas Paul pedalled to silver in the men’s sprint event at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Champions League second leg, which got underway in Lithuania on Saturday.

After powering through the qualifier and semi-final rounds, Paul was beaten to the line in the one-race final by Dutch speedster Harrie Lavreysen.

With just over one lap to go, Paul forced Lavreysen up the track and decided to grab an early lead by launching off with over 300 metres to go.

His tactic seemed to work well early on but Lavreysen never gave up, pushed hard and filtered into Paul’s slipstream to generate enough momentum to pip the TT cyclist just before the finish line.

This was Paul’s first ever UCI Nations Cup medal at the second leg of the five-stage tourney.

In the opening round, the flying 200 metres world record holder Paul qualified fourth fastest behind Lavreysen, German Stefan Botticher and Colombian Kevin Quintero respectively.

Into the semi-final ride against Botticher and Mikhail Iakovlev, Paul’s executed his early surge at the start of the final lap and was unable to be caught; thus advancing to the final against world champion Lavreysen.

In the other semi-final, the flying Dutchman came up trumps against Russian Denis Dmitriev and Quintero.

Additionally, Paul was unable to advance to the second round of the men’s keirin. He placed third in heat three, with only the top two cyclists – Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) and Dmitriev – moving on.

Paul now shifts focus to the London, England legs of the Champions League which begins on Friday. The final stage of the UCI Champions League will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 11.