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The UCI’s New Track Cycling Model Is a Step Backwards

The UCI’s recent decision to overhaul the international track cycling calendar will have far-reaching impacts. The changes completely rearrange the World Cup races to new summer-time dates, and add new Nation’s Cup races interspersed through the winter months. On the surface, this realigns elite track racing to converge with the World Road Championships date window, similar to the pre-1999 calendar. But the additional regulation changes – which limit event participation to National Teams and selected national team riders – will be a huge step back and effectively kill independent professional track cycling teams, and potentially restrict the future development of professional-level track events. Response from the two prominent track racing trade teams, BEAT Cycling and the Huub Wattbike Test Team, was immediate. Eliminating private teams from the entire UCI format – and the venue and...

Full Circle: Cycles in American Track Racing

The foundations of competitive cycling in the United States were built at its velodromes, from the early days of Major Taylor and Bobby Walthour, to the high point of the Six-Day racing era of the 1930s. Velodromes were one of the most popular sporting venues in the U.S. at that time and attracted the world’s best riders. Yet from those early days of widespread national and international popularity, the sport declined during and after World War II, with the last annual Six-Day race occurring in Madison Square Garden in 1961.