The first edition of the UCI Track Champions League will take place over six Saturday evenings in November and early December. The new series aims to raise the global profile of track cycling beyond the four-year Olympic cycle.
The UCI, which has already entrusted Belgian organizer Flanders Classics with the organization of the Cyclocross World Cup, has chosen a similar strategy for the track and teamed up with Eurosport Events, which has been working with the UCI for more than a decade to develop a new look for track cycling, said the new-look series will bring "a fresh, new approach rooted in an exciting track cycling format that is accessible to existing and new fans alike."
The Track Champions League follows the World Championships, which were moved to October as part of a revamp of track racing.
The Track World Cup, now known as the Track Nations Cup, will take place between March and September 2022 and will qualify for the World Championships. The Track World League is held in the winter and competes somewhat with the more traditional six-day circuit.
As part of a change in the track racing calendar, this year's Track World Championships will be held in Turkmenistan between October 13 and 17, despite concerns over the authoritarian rule of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
The first round of the Track Champions League will be held in Majorca, Spain, on Saturday, November 6, followed by Paris on Saturday, November 20, Panevezis, Lithuania, on Saturday, November 27, London on Saturday, December 3 and Sunday, December 4, and Israel on Saturday, December 11. The final round will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Eurosport Events and the UCI have agreed on a new race format with gender equality and equal prize money for all six events. The total prize money of €500,000 will be split equally, with the overall winner of each category receiving €25,000; the names of the winners of the four categories will be engraved on special trophies in the Track Champions League.
Riders will score points in either the sprint or endurance categories. Sprinters will compete in the sprint and keirin, while endurance riders will compete in the elimination and scratch. Each category will have 18 riders, with equal numbers of men and women, for a total of 72 riders.
At the end of each round, the four current leaders in each category (two men and two women) will be awarded a sky blue leader's jersey to be worn at the next competition. Teams will race in the new national colors designed and provided by sponsor Santini. The riders will also receive UCI ranking points.
There will be no traditional track events such as the Pursuit, but organizers promise a fast-moving, fun Saturday night race in a two-hour race.
Rider data, on-board cameras, LED light panels, and music will all be used to enhance the event. The Truck Champions League is described as "an adrenaline-pumping short-form racing series optimized for a mainstream television audience."
The "founding riders" of the Track Champions League are three men and three women, each at different stages of their professional track cycling careers, with Sir Chris Hoy and Christina Vogel serving as race ambassadors.
Ed Clancy (UK), Emma Hintze (Germany), Harry Lavreisen (Netherlands), Mathilde Gros (France), Sebastien Mora (Spain) and Simona Krupekaite (Lithuania) are the founding riders and Track Champions League involved in promotion and storytelling.
Riders are chosen to represent the country hosting the event, while others are invited based on their UCI World Ranking and UCI World Championship results.
"Thanks to our strategic partnership with Discovery, the dynamic, fast-paced, and televised circuit will reach a new audience of track cycling fans," said UCI President at the presentation in Paris David Lapartient said. [The inauguration of the UCI Track Champions League is an important milestone in the history of track cycling, which is one of cycling's historic disciplines and has been part of the Olympic Games since the first modern Games in 1896. [The discipline now has a compact annual calendar centered around three highlights: the UCI Nations Cup, the UCI Track World Championships, and the UCI Track Champions League The first edition of the UCI Track Champions League will be held at these iconic, revealed today I am very much looking forward to the venues and to seeing the first four male and four female winners of the 2021 UCI Track Champions League in Tel Aviv, Israel in December."
François Ribeiro, head of Eurosport Events, the official promoter of the Truck Champions League, promised to draw on Eurosport's expertise in organizing motor racing events on two and four wheels.
"We believe that track racing is one of the most exciting of cycle sports, and now that the demands of spectators are evolving, we have the opportunity to present this in a new and very attractive way," he said
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"We will leverage our unparalleled expertise in motorsports, another adrenaline-pumping form of racing, to refine the format and provide an unprecedented on-event, on-screen experience for cycling fans."
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