It gives Global Keirin no pleasure whatsoever to note that today marks exactly one year since the last ‘news‘ article was posted on the DerbyWheel website.

Regular readers will know we watch closely for any signs of life.

CEO James Pope posted a video message on the homepage last June, confirming that there would be no test event until after the Paris Olympics; and he has mentioned DerbyWheel recently on his LinkedIn feed.

The address of DerbyWheel’s Seoul office was changed a few months ago, and we noted a domain name had recently been renewed.

But Global Keirin understands that communications to the hundreds of riders signed up to DerbyWheel have practically dried up.

The DerbyWheel website continues to insist that ‘regular’ racing will begin ‘from the 1st half of 2025’ – but we are already halfway through that period, with no hint of a test event.

A dispassionate outsider would surely conclude that an initiative which has had no news to report in 12 months is not a going concern.

Even if wheels were to suddenly start turning, the validity of DerbyWheel’s rider assessments or its proposed equipment specification are a year out of date, and surely open to question.

Any momentum from last summer’s Olympics, followed by a world championships which saw Japanese riders win both keirin titles, is gone.

So what hope is there for DerbyWheel’s vision of a global pro keirin competition?

Well, Japanese keirin seems to be surging, with betting turnover reported to have doubled in the last five years; and it will shortly begin an experiment running races under ‘international’ rules.

The UCI’s decision to cancel the Track Champions League was disappointing, of course; but it leaves the playing field open for a disruptor like DerbyWheel.

The threat of exclusion from UCI competition still remains, in theory at least: but with TCL’s demise, and the failure to deliver a full Track Nations Cup schedule, riders might justifiably ask: what competitions are there to be excluded from?

The feeling amongst those with inside knowledge is that something will probably happen, although probably not on the scale originally proposed.

One could argue that the organisation of a test event is a test in itself: and DerbyWheel in its current form, with its current plan, simply has not passed that test.

It must now be time to look at the components which have been successfully gathered; and consider a different way to make use of them.