Harrie Lavreysen has touched down in Mallorca, ready to compete in the Track Champions League with a strong desire to rectify his overall loss to Australian cyclist Matthew Richardson from the previous year. While Lavreysen considers Richardson his primary competitor, he acknowledges that there are 16 other riders in the mix, each capable of delivering surprises. He emphasizes not narrowing his focus to just one adversary.

“I expect Matthew Richardson to be my biggest rival," says Harrie Lavreysen, on the eve of the opening night of the Track Champions League 2023.

Between them the Australian and the Dutchman won every event in 2022, with neither taking both sprint and keirin on the same evening. Richardson took the overall title by just two points - a result of one better placing in one round of one event.

Apart from being very fast on a bike, Richardson's strength, says Lavreysen, is being "really consistent and really good at keeping in shape for four weeks. There was no sign of fatigue across the competition, just within the rounds. Week in, week out, he was in the same shape.”

Lavreysen doesn't like to lose, and that one clearly still stings. He is, however, ready to draw upon and learn from it.

“Of course I feel a bit more pressure," he says ahead of the opening night in Malllorca on Saturday, "but last year I could only lose. I won everything in the first season. This year I’m trying to be a bit more relaxed, see how every round goes and be a bit more consistent for the points.”

To the racing itself he says he plans to go into it with “the same approach.”

Lavreysen is also not expecting this year's sprint competition to be the two-horse race it was in 2022, naming Colombian Kevin Quintero as a rider who can challenge their dominance.

"Kevin won the World Championship in the keirin [in Glasgow] and I think he really stepped up," Lavreysen says. "I think me and Matthew can expect a bit more rivalry from the other riders. It’s going to be even harder this year. There’s going to be 16 other riders and they can all surprise. I don’t want to focus on just one."

Mateusz Rudyk of Poland is another rider Lavreysen thinks could challenge, while Israeli Mikhail Yakovlev also "made some big improvements this year.”

One man Lavreysen will not be competing against is his Dutch team-mate and close friend, Jeffrey Hoogland.

"I’m definitely going to miss Jeffrey," he says. "We almost do every race together, but he’s going for the world record in the kilometre.”

Lavreysen is aware that, with Paris 2024 only 280 days away, a number of riders - most notably the German women's sprint trio of Emma Hinze, Lea Sophie Friedrich and Pauline Grabosch - have opted to take a year off the Track Champions League "in order to prepare."

The 26-year-old also has an Olympic sprint crown to defend but for him "this is good preparation. I like to do these races. The short time between them means it’s hard to recover from the races and that’s good training.”

Of the two events he will race at the Track Champions League, the keirin and the sprint, Lavreysen prefers the latter, "because it’s a bit more in my own hands. In the sprint if you’re the quickest rider and you lose, you've probably made a mistake."

"Winning a keirin is quite thrilling," he remarks.

"As we journey from Mallorca to London, my aspiration is to secure as many victories as possible," he explains, "but it's not realistic to expect success in every single round."

Regardless of the outcomes in the coming four weeks, he concludes, "It's a gratifying sensation to be back."

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