Gold medal at the Track Cycling World Championships

The 111th Track Cycling World Championships were held this year at the Roubaix velodrome in northern France. There were 22 events on the programme. And the Belgian riders performed particularly well, bringing back six medals, including one gold in the points race, an event consisting of a series of laps, over a total distance of 25 kilometres for the women, to collect a maximum number of points for each intermediate sprint and lap won. 

Lotte Kopecky won with 76 points, beating British cyclist Katie Archibald (72 points) and Dutch rider Kirsten Wild (60 points) in the last lap. She also won two other medals during these World Championships, with second places in the elimination race (the last in each intermediate sprint is eliminated until the final round) and the omnium (the combination of several disciplines such as the time trial, the pursuit, the sprint, etc.). The Antwerp rider has now won her second world title on the track after winning the Madison (a competition with intermediate sprints ridden by teams of two cyclists) with Jolien D'hoore in 2017. 

Belgium ends these World Championships with six medals in total, since in addition to the three podium finishes by Lotte Kopecky, there were the excellent performances of Kenny De Ketele, second in the points race and third in the Madison with Robbe Ghys, and the silver medal by Tuur Dens in the scratch race (where all the competitors start at the same time).

Congratulations to the Belgian team for the best medal haul ever brought back from the Track Cycling World Championships in the 21st century!