Canadian cycling trio reach podium at 3rd round of UCI Track Champions League

Canada's Mathias Guillemette, Kelsey Mitchell and Maggie Coles-Lyster claimed their spot on the UCI Track Champions League podium on Saturday in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.

The third Champions League event of the season marked the first time a Canadian cyclist failed to win an event in the 2022 campaign.

At the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which will host the cycling events during the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, Guillemette finished runner-up in the men's elimination race behind Great Britain's Oliver Wood and ahead of Switzerland's Claudio Imhof.

Following the event, Guillemette and Wood came together and exchanged words on the track.

"I was cooked and he was cooked," said Wood, in his post-race interview.

Guillemette, of Trois-Rivières, Que., led the men's endurance category standings after two rounds of the five-stint Champions League competition across Europe. The 20-year-old has dropped to second as of Saturday's result and trails the leader Imhof by six points.

WATCH | UCI Track Cycling Champions League Round 3:

Guillemette is among five Canadians competing in Champions League. The group also includes Olympic gold medallist Mitchell, world scratch champion Dylan Bibic, Coles-Lyster and Sarah van Dam.

Mitchell, who edged Colombia's Martha Bayona by 0.001 seconds to win gold after a photo finish in Berlin last week, returned to the podium in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines with bronze in the women's keirin final.

Steffie van der Peet of the Netherlands won gold ahead of France's Mathilde Gros who captured silver.

Mitchell, who celebrated her 29th birthday on Saturday, is now third in the women's sprint overall standings — one point behind Bayona and 10 behind leader Gros.

In the women's elimination race, fellow Canadian Coles-Lyster claimed bronze behind Katie Archibald of Great Britain and Jennifer Valente of the U.S.

Coles-Lyster, 23, is now one point away from third place in the overall standings behind American cyclist Lily Williams. Valente leads Archibald by one point atop the table.

Watch live coverage of the two-event grand finale of the UCI Track Champions League season in London, England, beginning Friday at 2 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android.