WHY HAS IT BEEN CREATED?
To reinvent track cycling creating an innovative new format to engage fans globally

THE RACE CALENDAR
The 2021 series takes place over five rounds across four countries, with each meeting condensed into a fast-paced two-hour programme:

• Round 1: Mallorca, Spain – Saturday 6 November
• Round 2: Panevezys, Lithuania – Saturday 27 November
• Round 3: London, UK – Friday 3 December
• Round 4: London, UK – Saturday 4 December
• Round 5: Tel Aviv, Israel – Saturday 11 December

THE FORMAT
Both the men’s and women’s leagues are split in two, creating a Sprint Championship and Endurance Championship for each. Each league will see 18 riders compete for glory.

SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP
The league is stripped down to cycling’s two most exciting sprint formats.
Keirin: The two fastest riders from three heats will qualify for a six-athlete final.
Sprint: Heats of three riders will culminate in a head-to-head final.

ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
Again, it’s boiled down to the two races that promise the most drama, but this time with all the riders competing at the same time.
Scratch race: A shorter, faster version than deployed at other events.
Elimination race: One rider eliminated every two laps until just one remains.

HOW DO YOU WIN?
Riders score points in every race for every position – so every point matters. Results are tallied up in the respective leagues, leaving four champions (men’s sprint and endurance; women’s sprint and endurance) after the final round in Tel Aviv on December 11.

WHAT’S THE SCORING SYSTEM?
Points awarded for each race are broken down as follows:
1st – 20 points, 2nd – 17 points, 3rd – 15 points, 4th – 13 points, 5th – 11 points, 6th – 10 points, 7th – 9 points, 8th – 8 points, 9th – 7 points, 10th – 6 points, 11th – 5 points, 12th – 4 points, 13th – 3 points, 14th – 2 points, 15th – 1 point

Scoring notes:

• The maximum number of points available if a rider wins all races is 200
• At the end of each event the current leader will be awarded the leader’s jersey and will wear the jersey at the following event

WHO HAS QUALIFIED?
Selection determined by a range of criteria including results at the Tokyo 2020 and other major events. Athletes will be selected via results in the upcoming UCI Track Cycling World Championships later in October.

WHO WILL BE COMPETING?
The series will bring together the world’s top riders in the velodrome as 72 athletes, 36 men and 36 women, compete for equal prize money across five meetings in 2021, including:

MEN’S SPRINT
• Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands) - Two-time Olympic gold medallist
• Nicholas Paul (Trinidad & Tobago) - Pan American Track Championship gold medallist
• Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) - Olympic gold medallist, four-time UCI world champion
• Vasilijus Lendel (Lithuania) - UCI World Cup gold medallist
• Maximilian Levy (Germany) - Four-time UCI world champion
• Denis Dmitriev (Russia) - Four-time European champion, former UCI world champion and Olympic bronze medallist

WOMEN’S SPRINT
• Emma Hinze (Germany) - Olympic silver medallist and three-time UCI world champion
• Mathilde Gros (France) - UCI World Championships bronze medallist and two-time European champion
• Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) - Two-time UCI world champion and three-time European champion
• Kelsey Mitchell (Canada) - Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist
• Shanne Braspennincx (Netherlands) - Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist
• Olena Starikova (Ukraine) - Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist

MEN’S ENDURANCE
• Tuur Dens (Belgium) – won silver in the scratch at the UCI Track World Championships
• Rhys Britton (UK) – won bronze in the scratch at the UCI Track World Championships
• Michele Scartezzini (Italy) – silver medallist at the UCI Track World Championships
• Ed Clancy (Great Britain) – gold medallist at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016
• Sebastian Mora (Spain) – second in points race and third in scratch at World Championships
• Kelland O’Brien (Australia) – gold medallist in team pursuit at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

WOMEN’S ENDURANCE
• Silvia Zanardi (Italy), won the road race at the UEC European under-23 Road Championships
• Karolina Karasiewicz (Poland), bronze medallist in team pursuit at the 2019 European Games
• Maria Martins (Portugal), bronze medallist at the 2019 UEC European Track Championships
• Yumi Kajihara (Japan), won silver in the women’s Omnium at Tokyo 2020
• Annette Edmondson (Australia), double Commonwealth Games gold medallist and London 2012 bronze medallist in the Omnium
• Katie Archibald (Great Britain), gold medallist at Tokyo 2020, also gold and silver Olympic medals from 2012 and 2016
• Anita Yvonne Stenberg (Norway) – Bronze medallist in the points race at 2020 World Championships in Berlin 

HOW TO WATCH
• Eurosport and Eurosport.com (premium subscribers)
• discovery+ (selected markets)
• Global Cycling Network

Distribution confirmed in: Channel 6 (Denmark), France Televisions (France), EPT (Greece), RTL7 (Netherlands), TVN (Poland), rtbr.be (Belgium), SRG SSR (Switzerland), TRT (Turkey), SuperSport (South Africa), Senal Colombia (Colombia), SBS (Australia), Sky NZ (New Zealand), Speed (Japan), Claro (Latin America)

UNRIVALLED COVERAGE ON DISCOVERY AND EUROSPORT PLATFORMS
Some of the most respected names in track cycling will be providing their expertise to millions of fans throughout the season on Discovery and Eurosport’s platforms, including: 

• Sir Chris Hoy (6 x Olympic gold medals, 1 x silver)
• Kristina Vogel (2 x Olympic gold medals, 1 x bronze)
• Laura Kenny (5 Olympic gold medal, 1 x silver)
• Jason Kenny (7 x Olympic gold medals, 2 x silver)
• Joanna Rowsell (2 x Olympic gold medals)
• Arnaud Tournant (1 x Olympic gold medal, 2 x silver, 1 x bronze)
• Dori Ruano (3 x Olympic Games)

FAST FACTS
At the first round of the UCI Track Cycling Champions League in Mallorca, Spain, there will be:

• 284 light projectors
• 250 metres of LED wall
• 24 video projectors

… while 60 tonnes of equipment – a little more than the average fully-grown humpback whale - will be transported from venue to venue throughout the UCI Track Cycling Champions League season!

WHAT THEY SAID

“We are truly convinced about the audience and popularity of the sport - track cycling is the number one rated in cycling discipline at every Olympic summer games, but the sport is not visible enough every year outside of the UCI World Championship.

“The UCI Track Cycling Champions League will help revitalise track cycling, addressing the lack of narrative between the Olympic Games with a simplified format that is 100% focussed on the most spectacular individual sprint categories: the Keirin, sprint, elimination and scratch.”

Francois Ribeiro, Head of Discovery Events

“The partnership with the UCI demonstrates what the scale and expertise of the wider Discovery family can offer partners in sport, providing both highly localised content to the widest variety of audiences as well as offering unrivalled expertise, analysis and storytelling from the best experts. 

“Combining this strength in cycling with Discovery Events’ promotional know-how and the global scale of Discovery’s channels and platforms, including Eurosport and GCN, we are confident we will build the UCI Track Cycling Champions League into a huge success.”

Andrew Georgiou, President of Sports, Discovery

“With this new UCI circuit, the discipline will have a packed and attractive annual calendar that offers variety and will meet the expectations of new audiences while also appealing to existing cycling fans. 

“Along with our new partner, we will grow the appeal of track cycling beyond the Olympic Games, where it has been on the programme since the very first Games of the modern era, in 1896.”

David Lappartient, UCI President

“The only time you normally get to see all the best riders together at the same time is the World Championships or the Olympic Games. So every four years, you'll see them five times. And we're going to see them in this amazing series, at their best form just off the back of a World Championship. So I think for the fans, it's super exciting.

“It's going to be nice and simple. It's going to be quick, it's going to be condensed into a two-hour package. I think it's what the fans really want. And I think it's what the riders want too.”

Chris Hoy, six-time Olympic gold medallist

EVERY RACE MATTERS!