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UCI terminates Track Champions League
‘One event alone couldn’t solve the broader challenges’, says former event director James Pope, now DerbyWheel CEO
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Japanese keirin success at Worlds: an opportunity to expand the sport?
It has taken a little longer than they had hoped; but Japan’s investment in international track cycling is beginning to produce results. French sprint coach Benoît Vêtu was appointed head coach of the Japanese national track team in 2016, following successful spells in Russia and China. His objective? To deliver medals at their home Olympics…
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Will UCI win earn Yamasaki a shot at the Keirin Grand Prix jackpot?
Of the three Japanese riders contesting the keirin at the Track World Championships, few would have picked Kento Yamasaki as the one most likely to bring the rainbow jersey back to the event’s home country. Perhaps that was unfair. The 31 year old has had a remarkable year in UCI competition, winning the Asian continental…
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UCI’s Lappartient bids for top IOC job
UCI president David Lappartient is one of seven declared candidates to replace Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee, in a contest which could raise various issues relevant to DerbyWheel’s plans. Bach announced in August that he would not seek to continue in office, having already served the maximum 12 years. Any such…
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DerbyWheel CEO: we don’t want a war, but UCI won’t even meet with us
DerbyWheel CEO James Pope says he doesn’t want to go to war with the UCI – but at present, the world cycling governing body is refusing even to have a meeting with the start-up keirin competition. ‘It was never our desire to be on the UCI calendar,’ Pope told the Roadman Podcast. ‘We are not…
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UCI highlights track sprinters in new YouTube series
Track sprinters feature prominently in a series of YouTube videos posted by the UCI in recent days, ahead of the Paris Olympics. Thailand’s Jai Angsuthasawit, Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell, Suriname’s Jaïr Tjon En Fa, France’s Mathilde Gros and Trinidad & Tobago’s Nicholas Paul all star in professionally-filmed, two-minute interview pieces, all in English, talking about their…
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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 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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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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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…
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Nations await confirmation of Olympic places
The UCI Track Nations Cup event in Canada marked the end of the qualifying cycle for the Paris Olympics. Countries have been accumulating qualification points since 2022. Rankings are produced based on each country’s best performer in the last two editions of each continental championship, and the 2023 world championship, along with the two best…
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UCI Nations Cup: world champ Andrews wins in Milton
World champion Ellesse Andrews took a decisive victory in the women’s keirin as the UCI Track Nations Cup came to a close in Canada. Andrews, the only New Zealander to have made the journey to Milton, needed a win in the repechage to proceed from the first round; and was third in her semi, behind…
