Denmark’s cycling reputation will come to the fore again this week with the 121st edition of the UCI Track World Championships, held since 1893 and now settling in Ballerup for five days of intense competition (16-20 October),
“Taking place just over two months after the Olympic Games and one month before the first round of the UCI Track Champions League, the 2024 Tissot UCI Track World Championships come at a crucial time for the athletes,” UCI President David Lappartient anticipates, as the fastest and most resilient riders in the world gear up for a 12th Danish edition of the UCI Track Worlds.
Copenhagen hosted the first nine, between 1896 and 1956, and Ballerup joined the list of venues with the Super Arena at the turn of the millennium. “At Ballerup Super Arena, our national velodrome, we’ve had the honour of hosting the UCI Track World Cups and the UCI Track World Championships in 2002 and 2010”, says Danish Cycling Federation President Johnny Lillelund. “We are excited to continue this legacy, just minutes from the vibrant centre of Copenhagen.”
Five days, 22 UCI World titles
More than 15,000 spectators are expected over the five days of competition. With 11 events each for the men and the women, there will be 22 UCI World Champion titles at stake on the track at Ballerup.
Endurance specialists will battle for glory in the individual pursuit, team pursuit, Madison, scratch race, omnium, points race and elimination, while sprinters will storm the velodrome with the individual sprint, team sprint, keirin and time trial.
The first medals will be awarded as early as Wednesday, with the finals of the women’s scratch race along with the women's and men’s team sprints. Rainbow jerseys will be awarded every night, all the way to Sunday’s grand finale, which showcases the men’s sprint, the women’s points race, the men’s elimination, the women’s keirin and the men’s Madison.
Lavreysen, Dygert, Kopecky… Star-studded line-up
Some 355 riders from 40 nations will be in pursuit of glory in the Ballerup Super Arena. The field includes ten Olympic Champions crowned this summer on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines track of Paris 2024 and 19 reigning UCI Track World Champions, beginning with the Danish men’s pursuit team, which got the better of Italy last year in Glasgow, Scotland (Great Britian).
Dutch stars Harrie Lavreysen, Roy van den Berg and Jeffrey Hoogland tick both Olympic and UCI World Champion boxes, enforcing their power in France and in Scotland in the sprint events. Between them, the almighty trio have already claimed 26 UCI Elite World Champion titles (14 collective triumphs and 12 individual wins) but they saw Colombia’s Kevin Quintero snatch a historic victory last year in the keirin.
Great Britain’s Emma Finucane was also crowned at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (in the team sprint, with Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell) and last year’s UCI Worlds (individual sprint), and the same goes for the USA’s Chloé Dygert (also recent silver medallist in the road race of the 2024 UCI Road World Championships) and Jennifer Valente in endurance events. Italy’s Chiara Consonni is the other Olympic Champion crowned this summer now gearing for new battles in Ballerup.
Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky, who left an extraordinary mark in the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships with titles on the road and track, saw gold escape her at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on the road (bronze in the road race) and in the velodrome (4th in the omnium) but recent competitions have highlighted her extraordinary set of skills: in the UCI Women’s WorldTour (winner of the Tour de Romandie Féminin and Simac Ladies Tour), the UCI Road World Championships (winner of the road race) and the UCI Gravel World Championships (silver medallist).