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Confirmed: no DerbyWheel test event until after Olympics
A video message to prospective competitors has been posted on the DerbyWheel website homepage, in which CEO James Pope confirms that the test event will not be happening until after the Olympics – meaning mid-August at the very earliest. Global Keirin understands that the video was sent directly to riders a week or two ago.…
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UCI accepts gambling title sponsor for 2024 Champions League
2024’s UCI Track Champions League will be contested over a more compressed schedule than in previous years, and with changes likely to the qualification process. Announcements on the UCI and Track Champions League websites confirm that the competition will take place at three velodromes – Paris, Apeldoorn and London, over three weekends. The Olympic track…
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Two months of silence casts doubt over test event
It’s now two full months since the last news update from DerbyWheel. The most recent news article posted on the website was April 12; and the revised ‘open message to cyclists around the world’ was dated April 17. The website continues to state in several places that the exhibition event will take place in ‘the…
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Manchester website reports from inside January’s induction
Local Manchester news website Mancunian Matters went inside track centre for January’s DerbyWheel induction at the UK’s National Cycling Centre. The video, published a few months later, includes interviews with DerbyWheel CEO James Pope, and prospective DerbyWheel competitor Lewis Oliva. Referencing the continuing stalemate with the UCI, Pope said: ‘Our mission is to enable riders…
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Two Paris spots offered to nations on the reserve lists
We are another step closer to knowing the lineup of sprinters competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with confirmation from the UCI that Israel and Surinam have each declined one of their two allocated places in the men’s sprint and keirin competitions. Jair Tjon en Fa and Mikhail Yakovlev performed strongly over the qualifying period,…
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Pick a nickname: darts shows DerbyWheel how it’s done
Cycling is no stranger to a nickname. We’ve had the Cannibal, the Badger and the Pirate. More recently, Purito and Spartacus, Wiggo and the Manx Missile, the Shark and the Gorilla. You’ll often hear them in commentary. You might see them painted on the road, or represented in a custom paint job on a frame.…
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Updated equipment list hints at a more modern keirin spectacle
New details of the approved DerbyWheel race equipment have been revealed through an update to the organisation’s Race Manual, published online in recent days. The new document uses the newer red logo, and develops the brand further, with much stronger visuals and various red devices. We’re impressed. In addition to Dolan’s Alpina and Novacorona’s Ares…
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Riders await new date for test event
With DerbyWheel’s test event missing its proposed April 26-28 dates, organisers and riders now face a number of practical challenges in choosing a new date before the end of June, as promised. After a relatively quiet spring, there are a number of well-established UCI C1 and C2 events scheduled for May and June; and track…
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UCI confirms Paris Olympic places and reserves
We are another step closer to knowing who will compete at the Paris Olympics, with confirmation from the UCI of the quota places (PDF). And to sighs of relief across the world’s cycling media, it validates the calculations which circulated online last week. The sprint and keirin allocations are as follows: Nations now have until…
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Irish champ Walsh changes plans after test event delay
With DerbyWheel’s April test event postponed, Irish sprint champion Orla Walsh has filled the sudden gap in her schedule with something from the opposite end of the scale. She revealed on Instagram that she will now be participating in the celebrated Mallorca 312 gran fondo event, riding the 167km circuit around the north of the…
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Taekwondo team amazes British talent show judges
Although most events will be ‘behind closed doors’, DerbyWheel organisers have promised crowd-pleasing entertainment at the competition’s big-money Grand Prix events, three times a year. But whilst we could easily imagine K-Pop acts keeping the fans happy between races, we at Global Keirin had our doubts about the promised taekwondo performances. Would that sort of…
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Prize money is not the Olympic spirit, says UCI President
UCI President David Lappartient says the decision of World Athletics to offer prize money to winners at Paris 2024 is ‘not the Olympic spirit’, and should have been discussed among international governing bodies. World Athletics recently announced that it would become the first federation to award prize money at an Olympic Games. Individual athletes winning…
