2021 Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Championships: this October, ‘The Stab’ shines like never before

“Since we’re welcoming the whole world, we might as well be dressed to the nines.” At the beginning of October, as he welcomed the followers of Paris-Roubaix, Adrien Noppe could only express his delight and his excitement towards the upcoming 2021 Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Championships (October 20-24) in the Jean-Stablinski velodrome, known as ‘The Stab’, a few metres away from the open André-Pétrieux velodrome, where Lizzie Deignan (GBR) and Sonny Colbrelli (ITA) raised their arms after taming an epic weekend at the Hell of the North.

Adrien Noppe took up the role of General Manager of the Stab velodrome a couple of years ago, but he quickly had to shut down most of its activities because of the Covid-19 pandemic. A handful of pro riders still rode on the track, mostly to prepare for the Olympic Games, whether it was for last summer’s Games in Tokyo or three years from now in Paris. But the velodrome was mostly inactive.

Now, activity is cranking up inside the Stab, and it’s only the beginning, Noppe envisions. “Life has returned, the legend has returned and we can do again what we do best: to welcome people and athletes,” the General Manager of the Stab velodrome announced as a few dozen journalists covering Paris-Roubaix were watching Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) accelerate in the Trouée d’Arenberg. A couple of hours later, they were discussing with the heroes of the day in the same place where Philippe Gilbert shared his joy as winner of the French Monument in 2019.

"The biggest event for us”

As you enter the velodrome, flyers invite you to ride on the track. Next to them, postcards celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jean Stablinski’s conquest of the rainbow jersey, at the 1962 UCI Road World Championships. They date back from 2012, the year ‘The Stab’ was inaugurated in honour of the local hero, hailing from Thun-Saint-Amand, some 50km away from Roubaix.

Turn your eyes to the right, heading for the track, and a huge portrait of Jean Stablinski watches the new visitors. It’s much fresher – local artists Dr Colors created it just a few weeks ago. They also represented icons of Roubaix such as Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck, before this year’s UCI Track Worlds sees new champions rise to glory.

‘The Stab’ enjoyed the lockdowns to freshen up and the staff has seriously upped the pace recently. “The Worlds are the biggest event in track cycling, alongside the Olympic Games, and France has a national velodrome that also serves as an Olympic centre [in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, next to Paris] so we know where we stand. This is, by essence, the biggest event for us,” Noppe explains.

'The Stab' will be fresher than ever

“We’ve cleaned up the whole outside and we’re redoing the façade,” the General Manager continues. “We’re also relamping the inside. We’re pushing the velodrome to its limits, including in terms of lightning for the TV coverage. And we’re sanding the track. Normally, that’s an operation you do every 10 years in a velodrome, so we were planning to do this next year, but we’ve moved things forward.”

Only a few hours after the media wrapped up their coverage of Paris-Roubaix and left the velodrome, sanding operations began on Monday morning, at 5am. It was undertaken for one week, until Sunday, to make sure the athletes heading to Roubaix a few days later would have the best conditions to perform.

More than 40 delegations from around the world are expected to battle in ‘The Stab’.

“It’s a total mobilisation at every level of the organisation, alongside the elected officials who had to make quick decisions,” Noppe says. “The velodrome will be in its best light for the biggest competition it will welcome in its history."