Jennifer Valente pips Katie Archibald to endurance title at Track Champions League, Claudio Imhof champion on countback

Jennifer Valente edged out Katie Archibald by three points in the Women’s Endurance league despite finishing the two races on the final night behind her rival.

Valente went into the last round with an eight-point lead, following a disappointing performance from Archibald in the elimination event on Friday.

It was the British rider who had the better results and showed some of her best form, but American Valente did enough to get over the line.

“Katie is such a tough competitor and a phenomenal bike racer,” Valente said.

“Winning this probably caps off the best year I could hope for from an Olympic gold [in 2021] and a world title.”

Similar to the night before, Valente followed Archibald’s every move in the scratch race, including an early attack by the British rider.

Australia’s Chloe Moran won the race itself from Canada’s Sarah Van Dam in a two-rider breakaway.

Back in the bunch, Archibald got a cap between herself and Valente for a few seconds, but crossed the line in third place with her main rival just behind in fourth. The gap came down from eight to six points as a consequence.

Archibald needed to finish three places above Valente in the elimination race to win the title.

When it came to three riders remaining, both of the title protagonists were still in the event, which meant Valente was the new champion.

The pair were the final two riders left as the rest of the field simply ran out of energy. Archibald stormed her way to the race win, but it was not enough to defend the title.

In the Men’s Endurance, Switzerland’s Claudio Imhof remarkably beat Spain’s Sebastian Mora on countback after the pair finished on the same points.

The scratch race saw Mora and Imhof watch each other until four laps to go when the Spaniard went for it and nobody chased him.

However, he was reeled in by the pack and from nowhere Britain’s Mark Stewart came around the outside to beat the field with Mora fading to fourth and Imhof down in seventh.

It all meant Mora led by four points from Imhof, with Stewart now just five points behind going into the elimination race.

Despite help from his British team-mates, Stewart was eliminated with eight riders to go so was out of contention.

Mora simply needed to reach the final sprint to become champion, but he ran out of energy and finished fourth.

A thrilling final sprint saw Britain’s Oliver Wood fight back to beat Imhof to the line, but the Swiss rider did enough to beat Mora on countback in the overall standings, by virtue of his higher finishing position in the final race.

– – –