The third edition of the UCI Track Champions League, which kicks off on 21 October in Palma de Mallorca, brings together 72 track stars to battle it out over the five rounds of the series.
With the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships, which brought together 13 UCI World Championships in Glasgow and across Scotland (UK), and many other highlights throughout the year, 2023 has already been a special year… And many more thrills are coming with the third edition of the UCI Track Champions League. The stars of track cycling are ready to achieve new feats as they prepare for five evenings of thrilling action at iconic venues from Spain to the UK.
Champions and fans will be returning to the format that has given a new boost to track racing: 72 riders (36 women and 36 men) will compete in either the sprint league or the endurance league, with all the races (keirin and sprint for the sprinters, elimination and scratch for the endurance experts) condensed into one evening’s action per round. The winner of each race scores 20 points, the runner-up 17, with points awarded up to 15th place (one point).
This season, racing will kick off in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) and visit the same venues as last year, with stops in Berlin (Germany) and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France, hosting the track events at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games), before heading to London:
Round 1: Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Velòdrom Illes Balears, 21 October
Round 2: Berlin (Germany), Berlin Velodrom, 28 October
Round 3 : Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France), Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 4 November
Round 4, London (United Kingdom), Lee Valley VeloPark, 10 November
Grand Finale, London (United Kingdom), Lee Valley VeloPark, 11 November
Track stars return
As in the first two editions of the UCI Track Champions League, this year’s line-up is made up entirely of stars who have performed at the highest level. Together, the 72 participants have won five Olympic Games gold medals (with British Katie Archibald and Dutch Harrie Lavreysen leading the way with two titles each), 32 UCI Elite rainbow jerseys (13 for Lavreysen) and 149 Continental Champion titles (including 29 for South African Jean Spies).
“Securing such a global field of male and female talent is amazing to see and I’m sure it’s going to guarantee five rounds of exciting, dramatic and hotly contested racing”, celebrates Florian Pavia, Series Director of the UCI Track Champions League.
“The medallists from Glasgow join an impressive start list with the top track riders in the world, which guarantees to bring a spectacular show to spectators and fans”, UCI President David Lappartient added.
🌈WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALLISTS CONFIRMED
— UCI Track Champions League (@UCITCL) October 4, 2023
Get ready for more speed and endurance on the track as seven men's @CyclingWorlds medallists are gearing up for Season 2⃣ of the UCI Track Champions League!
Here are the first confirmed names in this year's #UCITCL men's line-up: pic.twitter.com/CAtrxOLQ8E
Among the most anticipated battles, Lavreysen will face Matthew Richardson (AUS), who got the better of the Dutch superstar last year after a thrilling fight, week in and week out. The two will be up against Colombia’s Kevin Quintero after his historic UCI World Champion title this summer in the keirin.
British stars lit up the final round of the 2022 UCI Track Champions League and their fans anticipate more of the same this year, with an already sold-out Grand Finale at the Lee Valley VeloPark. Will Katie Archibald, winner of the endurance league in 2021 and second in 2022, raise the trophy? Other rising stars return with big ambition, such as Emma Finucane, after she took her first UCI Elite rainbow jersey this summer in Glasgow.
Season 3💥
— Emma Finucane (@EmmaFinucane123) September 28, 2023
Excited to be announce that I’ll be racing @UCITCL again this year!
Pretty cool to be wearing 🌈 in the sprint for the first time! pic.twitter.com/oZEfBXgeVD
New talents rise among the top names
British Neah Evans is another talent used to finishing at the top, having won two UCI World Champion titles in 2022 (points race) and 2023 (Madison), but she’ll face a new challenge as she takes on the intense racing at the UCI Track Champions League.
Four more UCI Elite World Champions will discover the series: New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews (sprint), Belgium’s Nicky Degrendele (sprint), Germany’s Theo Reinhardt (endurance) and France’s Quentin Lafargue (sprint).
The UCI Track Champions league also features new talent coming from various backgrounds. A former gymnast (like Matthew Richardson), Belgium’s Hélène Hesters has rapidly impressed as she switched to track cycling and, at only 18 years old, she already joins her brother Jules Hesters in the prestigious competition.
Esow Esow is no longer the only fast Indian in the velodrome, with the arrival of Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, the first rider from his country to take a medal at the Asian Championships.
Ruby Huisman comes from a country very well established in the track scene, the Netherlands, but her first love was BMX Racing (UCI Junior World Champion in 2016). As for Ellie Stone (GBR), she did athletics before turning to track cycling and securing her first international accolade last year at the Commonwealth Games, as a pilot for para-cyclist Aileen McGlynn.
The start field for the 2023 UCI Track Champions League sparkles with the varied skills of the star athletes. It’s now time for them to battle it out, and it starts this weekend!