ACE cyclist Nicholas Paul concluded his UCI Track Champions League campaign fifth in the men's sprint category after the five-leg tourney concluded at Lee Valley VeloPark in London on December 7.
After topping the sprint's heat three ahead of Australian Thomas Cornish and Malaysian Muhammad Firdaus, Paul lined up against the tournament's top two sprinters, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands.
With only the winner advancing to the medal race, Lavreysen took an early lead, held it, and maintained his pace to the end to oust Paul and countryman Hoogland.
Laverysen went on to defeat Australian Leigh Hoffman in the final, to cop the men's sprint overall gold after accumulating the most points across the five legs.
Altogether, Lavreysen collected 166 points with Englishman Matthew Richardson (146 pts) in second and Colombian David Ortega (115 pts) in third.
Hoffman (96 pts) and Paul (93 pts) rounded the top five finishers respectively.
The December 7 events concluded the league's five stages which were held in France, Netherlands and climaxed in London.
At the fourth stage in London on December 6, Paul could not advance past the sprint first round as he finished third in heat three against Cornish and Vasilijus Lendel (Lithuania).
He also missed out in the keirin event, competing out of heat two, lining up against Richardson, training teammate Jair Tjon En Fa (Suriname) Tayte Ryan (Australia), Firdaus and Luca Spiegel (Germany).
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