The UCI Track Champions final has arrived and Tyson Fury takes to the ring once more

UCI Track Champions League

All of the UCI Track Champions League drama comes to a thrilling conclusion this weekend as the racers head to London for the Grand Final. It’s time to get your head in a spin! After being constructed for the 2012 London Olympics the Lee Valley VeloPark will host the final two rounds on 2nd and 3rd December.

The rivalry between Katie Archibald and Jennifer Valente continues and it will all come down to the wire in these back-to-back finals, setting the scene for a nail-biting watch. Valente got into an early lead this season and has been holding onto the blue jersey the past few weeks. She continues to top the leaderboard but after Archibald won the Women’s Elimination for the second week in a row the gap between them has closed to just one point with 98 and 97 points each.

Maggie Coles-Lyster and Lily Williams sit far behind in joint 3rd with 62 points and it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Archibald or Valente taking the Champions title. Archibald is the defending champion and will have the home crowd on her side so all eyes will be on her to see if she can snatch the title from Valente’s grasp right at the death.

Archibald’s fellow compatriot Sophie Lewis also won the Women’s Scratch race last week in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines so the British crowd will be hungry to witness a double home win for Endurance.

The fierce stand-off continues in the Men’s sprint as only two points continue to separate Harrie Lavreysen and Matthew Richardson. The roles were reversed this week as Lavreysen edged the victory in the Sprint race before Richardson hit back by claiming his first victory against the 11-time UCI World Champion in the Keirin final. With each claiming a win (just in the opposite races as last week) the gap between them remains the same and this season’s most talked about rivalry is sure to continue this weekend in the English capital. Can the impressive youngster Richardson edge the victory over the Dutch defending Champion and eventually bridge the two-point gap in the final?

In the Men’s Endurance the field is a bit more open and there are a few British names that will be hoping to impress in London. The Brit Oliver Wood triumphed in the Elimination race over Mathias Guillemette who was the outgoing leader last week. His Scottish teammate Mark Stewart is also currently fourth in the standings, after a successful start in the first round he will be hoping to come full circle to end on a high in front of the British crowd.

Fury vs Chisora III

Calling all you boxing fans out there! Get ready to rumble this weekend as North meets South at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora going toe-to-toe once again with the WBC heavyweight title on the line. With so much at stake, the anticipation surrounding this bout will be reaching fever-pitch proportions in the English capital over the next few days.

Can anyone finally land a sucker punch on Tyson Fury? That is the question that’s on boxing fans’ lips at the moment and The Gypsy King will no doubt fancy his chances of picking up yet another win in London on Saturday Night. The reigning WBC heavyweight champion heads into this crunch bout on the back of a five-match winning streak with the controversial split-decision draw against Deyontay Wilder back in 2018 being the only time that victory has eluded him in his glittering career thus far.

Fury has demolished The Bronze Bomber on two separate occasions since then and also dispatched Dillian Whyte in six rounds under the watchful eye of the Wembley arch earlier this year. What’s more, he’s also come out on top in both of the previous meetings with Chisora and it’s a little wonder that he’s being tipped as the red-hot favourite heading into this fight.

There’s no two ways of putting it, it’s looking like curtains for Chisora ahead of this fight. War has lost 3 of his last 4 fights after stopping his 3-match losing streak in his last outing where he snatched a split-decision victory over Kulbat Pulev to land himself a shot at the title. However, with the weight of expectation placed squarely on the shoulders of his opponent, he could view this as his ultimate opportunity to cause an upset and show the boxing world what he’s got in his locker.

Will he succeed or will Fury steamroll his way to yet another win? Whatever happens, we’re in for a thrilling ride this weekend.