UCI Track Champions League 2023: The new track cycling competition at a glance

In addition to the annual World and European Championships and the Nation's Cup, which replaced the World Cup when it was held for the first time in 2021, the Champions League, which was also introduced in 2021, is already one of the most important events in the track cycling calendar. Cycling's world governing body, the UCI, has signed a contract with the organising media company Discovery for an initial period of eight years.

Dates of the UCI Track Champions League 2023

The Champions League is held on five consecutive weekends in October and November.

• Round 1: Mallorca, 21 October
• Round 2: Berlin, 28 October
• Round 3: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, 4 November
• Round 4: London, 10 November
• Final: London, 11 November

The mode of organisation

As one of the organisers' aims is to make track cycling accessible to a wider audience, a conscious effort was made to keep the rules simple. This starts with the selection of disciplines to be contested during the five laps.

There are two disciplines per category on the track - short time and endurance - in the Champions League. The short time will be sprint and keirin in each event. There are three laps in the sprint. In six preliminary heats, three riders compete for a place in the semi-finals, which only the first rider makes. The winner of each of the two semi-finals goes through to the final. Two rounds are on the programme in the keirin. Three heats, each with six starters, catapult the top two in each heat into the final. For the endurance riders, there is a scratch race and an elimination race.

There will be 18 participants each in the men's and women's short time and endurance events, meaning that a total of 72 athletes will take part in the Champions League. In addition to points for the UCI world rankings - and guaranteed starting places for the best at the World Championships and Olympics - points are awarded in each competition for a continuous overall Champions League ranking.

The points scheme

• 1st place - 20 points
• 2nd place - 17 points
• 3rd place - 15 points
• 4th place - 13 points
• 5th place - 11 points
• 6th place - 10 points
• 7th place - 9 points
• 8th place - 8 points
• 9th place - 7 points
• 10th place - 6 points
• 11th place - 5 points
• 12th place - 4 points
• 13th place - 3 points
• 14th place - 2 points
• 15th place - 1 point

The points for each rider in the two short-time disciplines sprint and keirin are added together in the same way as the points for the endurance riders in the scratch and elimination races. This means that four winners will be crowned at each stage. In the course of the race series, the points from the individual competition venues are added up again. The leader will start in a turquoise-blue racing suit, while all other riders will wear their national colours. Whoever has collected the most points after the second day in London - a maximum of 200 would be possible - has won the Champions League.

Top German stars not at the start this time

With Alessa-Catriona Pröpster and Theo Reinhardt, there are only two German starters in this year's field. The European team sprint champion and former junior world champion in the sprint and keirin will represent Germany in the short distance, while the 2018 and 2019 world champion in the two-man team time trial will compete in the endurance events. Both have been nominated by the organisers for the Track Champions League for the first time.

Born in Berlin, Reinhardt is particularly looking forward to his home race on 28 October, even if his favourite disciplines are not on the agenda. "Scratch and elimination races are certainly not my favourite races on the track. They will be very, very short races. But they are high-quality competitions," said the 33-year-old on the homepage of the German Cycling Federation (BDR).

For the 22-year-old Pröpster, "the Champions League fits quite well into the calendar. I'm really looking forward to spending four weeks travelling with the absolute best in world track cycling and competing in some great races." The calendar is ultimately also the reason why the German short-track elite around Emma Hinze, Lea-Sophie Friedrich, Pauline Grabosch and Stefan Bötticher, who have competed in the Champions League in recent years, have decided not to take part this time.

>> Track Champions League: A format with a future?

The BDR says that preparations for the 2024 European Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, in mid-January take priority. However, the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer are certainly already casting their shadow. The fragmented track cycling calendar with the 2023 Super Cycling World Championships in the summer, European Championships in January and the Nation's Cup from February to April 2024 leaves little room for a break with a Champions League in October and November.

Mitchell, Archibald, Lavreysen, Büchli & Co. - world champions and Olympic champions without end

And even if world-class riders such as the French world champion and Champions League winner Mathilde Gros are doing the same as the Germans, the list of top athletes is still long. With Canadian Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell and medallists Lauriane Genest (France) and Katy Marchant (Great Britain), the women's short course competition is strong. Last year's winner Matthew Richardson (Australia) and 13-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen from the Netherlands are among the biggest names in the men's event.

In the endurance field, the British have sent everything they have with Olympic and world champion Katie Archibald, world champion Neah Evans and multiple European champion Sophie Lewis. In the men's event, William Tidball will be joined by another reigning world champion. Last year's winner Claudio Imhof from Switzerland, the former world champions Quentin Lafarge (France) and Sebastian Mora (Spain) and the Dutchman Matthijs Büchli, also an Olympic and four-time world champion, will also be competing.

Qualification criteria

The first six places in the sprint and keirin competitions of the previous World Championships are firmly quailified for the short-time competitions. The 18-strong starting field will be supplemented by the world rankings, Olympic results and wildcards.

The top 3 of the world rankings in the scratch, elimination, points race and omnium are firmly in place for the endurance competitions. After that, it will be filled up as in the short time.

Participants Short-term women

• Ellesse Andrews (Australia)
• Martha Bayona (Colombia)
• Alla Biletska (Ukraine)
• Sophie Capewell (Great Britain)
• Nicky Degrendele (Belgium)
• Emma Finucane (Great Britain)
• Daniela Gaxiola (Mexico)
• Lauriane Genest (Canada)
• Ruby Huisman (Netherlands)
• Migle Lendel (Lithuania)
• Katy Marchant (Great Britain)
• Kelsey Mitchell (Canada)
• Alessa-Catriona Pröpster (Germany)
• Ellie Stone (Great Britain)
• Lowri Thomas (Great Britain)
• Wang Lijuan (China)
• Orla Walsh (Ireland)
• Miriam Vece (Italy)

Participants short time men

• Esow Esow (India)
• Sam Dakin (Australia)
• Tom Derache (France)
• Nien Hsing Hsieh (Taiwan)
• Daan Kool (Netherlands)
• Ronaldo Laitonjam (India)
• Melvin Landerneau (France)
• Harrie Lavreysen (Netherlands)
• Vasilijus Lendel (Lithuania)
• Tijmen van Loon (Netherlands)
• Kevin Quintero (Colombia)
• Matthew Richardson (Australia)
• Lars Romijn (Netherlands)
• Mateusz Rudyk (Poland)
• Callum Saunders (Australia)
• Jean Spies (South Africa)
• Joe Truman (Great Britain)
• Mikhail Yakovlev (Israel)

Participants Endurance Women

• Katie Archibald (Great Britain)
• Olivija Baleisyte (Lithuania)
• Maaike Brandwagt (Netherlands)
• Maggie Coles-Lyster (Canada)
• Emma Cumming (Australia)
• Neah Evans (Great Britain)
• Antonieta Gaxiola (Mexico)
• Lara Gillespie (Ireland)
• Helene Hester (Belgium)
• Danni Khan (Great Britain)
• Sophie Lewis (Great Britain)
• Kate Richardson (Great Britain)
• Francesca Selva (Italy)
• Anita Stenberg (Norway)
• Petra Sevcikova (Czech Republic)
• Sarah van Dam (Canada)
• Lily Williams (USA)
• Amalie Winther Olsen (Denmark)

Participants endurance men

• Dylan Bibic (Canada)
• Mathijs Büchli (Netherlands)
• Tuur Dens (Belgium)
• Roy Eefting (Netherlands)
• Mathias Guillemette (Canada)
• Eiya Hashimito (Japan)
• Tobias Hansen (Denmark)
• Philip Heijnen (Netherlands)
• Jules Hesters (Belgium)
• Gavin Hoover (USA)
• Claudio Imhof (Switzerland)
• Quentin Lafargue (France)
• Sebastian Mora (Spain)
• William Perrett (Great Britain)
• Theo Reinhardt (Germany)
• Max Schmidbauer (Austria)
• Mark Stewart (Great Britain)
• William Tidball (Great Britain)

UCI Track Champions League - TV broadcast and live stream

As Discovery, a major media company, is in charge, it makes sense that the overall product should be as television-friendly as possible. All five evenings of the race series are compressed into around two hours, which are broadcast live in their entirety by Discovery subsidiaries Global Cycling Network (GCN) and Eurosport.

The previous winners of the UCI Track Champions League

2021

• Short time women: Emma Hinze (Germany)
• Short time men: Harrie Layreysen (Netherlands)
• Women's endurance: Katie Archibald (Great Britain)
• Men's endurance: Gavin Hoover (USA)

2022

• Short time women: Mathilde Gros (France)
• Short time men: Matthew Richardson (Australia)
• Women's endurance: Jennifer Valente (USA)
• Men's endurance: Claudio Imhof (Switzerland)