What you should know about the track cycling Champions League

The track Champions League consolidates its place in the calendar with an exciting proposal designed to attract new fans to one of the most spectacular modalities of cycling over 5 exciting days that will take place in the velodromes of Mallorca, Berlin, Paris and London.

Discover track cycling with the Champions League

The UCI is firmly committed to track racing, as demonstrated by the second edition of the UCI Track Champions League, which aims to promote this sport through a format of short sessions, with the best cyclists in the world in this speciality and with a great visual spectacle for audiences either physically in the velodrome or on television.

The UCI Track Champions League is contested in league format with 5 events throughout the months of November and December in which the same competitions are held.

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On the one hand, we have the Speed races in which the participants will compete in the Sprint and Keirin races. The Sprint consists of a race in which three riders, two in the final, will mark each other during three laps in an intense tactical fight to arrive in the best position for the last 200 metres timed race where the race will be decided in a closed sprint.

The Keirin, on the other hand, is a curious race in which a velomotor takes to the track to set an increasing pace for two laps, up to 45 km/h for the women and 50 km/h for the men. It then moves off the track, leaving the 6 riders free to ride the last three laps according to the tactics chosen by each rider. Only the first two riders go on to the next round until the final, which decides the winner.

Endurance riders compete in Elimination and Scratch races. In the Elimination, the riders ride around the track, with a sprint every two laps in which the last rider to cross the finish line is eliminated from the race. The race continues until only the winner remains.

The Scratch has a simpler mechanics as it is a conventional race which, in the case of this UCI Track Champions League, is held over 20 laps, which means a total distance of 5 kilometres. The winner of the race is the first to cross the finish line, although in this type of race the incentive is provided by those who are looking for an attack with which to gain a lap of the group, which greatly increases the chances of achieving victory at the end of the race.

At the end of each race, points are awarded according to the position achieved and a ranking is established. The leader of the race receives an identifying jersey to be worn in the next race.

After the races in Mallorca and Berlin, the women's sprint classification is led by Colombian Martha Bayona with only one point ahead, while Jennifer Valente leads the women's endurance. Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen dominates in the men's sprint and in the endurance it is Canadian Mathias Guillemette who leads the classification, with Spaniard Sebastián Mora in 4th position, 11 points behind the leader.

With this second edition of the UCI Track Champions League, the highest international cycling organization wants to consolidate a competition that in its first edition had an important following of more than 150 million spectators and a coverage that reaches 200 countries.

UCI Track Champions League Calendar

The UCI Track Champions League began on November 12th at the Palma Arena in Majorca and its conclusion will take place on December 3rd at the Lee Valley in London. Each event, broadcast live on the Eurosport channel, lasts about 3 hours, during which the different heats of the sprint races take place, alternating with the four long-distance races.

These are the dates and venues for the 2022 UCI Track Champions League:

• November 12th 2022 – Majorca
• November 19th 2022 – Berlin
• November 26th 2022 – Saint Quentin en Yvelines
• December 2nd 2022 – London
• December 3rd 2022 – London