British Cycling and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) have today confirmed the dates for next year’s UCI
Track Cycling World Championships in London, with the capital hosting the event from Wednesday 2 to Sunday 6 March 2016.
The staging of the world championships in the Lee Valley VeloPark at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will see the world’s best riders return to the venue which hosted track cycling at London 2012 as the final showdown before Rio 2016.
For the Great Britain Cycling Team, it is a chance to compete for the much-coveted rainbow jerseys awarded to world champions. For fans, it is a chance to watch sporting history made and experience the famous velodrome roar which lifted British riders to an amazing nine Olympic medals.
Forming part of UK Sport’s major events programme, which aims to bring 70 world class events to this country by 2019, the track championships will also be a great opportunity for the public to show their support for Great Britain’s cyclists in the final stage of the Olympic qualification process on the road to Rio 2016.
Speaking of today’s confirmation, British Cycling’s cycle sport and membership director Jonny Clay said: "The appetite for top-level international racing has rarely been higher in this country and it is with great excitement that we confirm the dates for the 2016 UCI World Track Cycling Championships.
"Becoming world champion in any year is a landmark moment in an athlete’s career but in 2016, competitors in London will also be fighting for the chance to head to the Rio Olympics marked as the best in the world.
"Having the event in London allows the Great Britain Cycling Team to make a statement of intent to the world’s best ahead of Rio 2016, while also providing the British public with the opportunity to give the team their backing.
"The major events we have delivered over the last decade have rightly been regarded as world class and I’m certain that the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in this iconic venue will be the best yet."
For National Lottery funded British Cycling athletes, the event will be the final milestone on the countdown to the Rio Olympics, providing an inspirational send off for the British riders as well as a morale boosting opportunity to perform in front of a home crowd.
UCI president, Brian Cookson, said: "The UCI, organisers and TV broadcasters worked hand in hand to find the best possible dates for our track marquee event, taking into account the international sporting calendar. One year after the UCI Track Cycling World Championships at the new Velodrome National in Saint-Quentin, the best riders will compete in another world class venue, the Lee Valley VeloPark velodrome, London. We still have vivid memories of the track cycling raced there during the London 2012 Olympics, and next year’s UCI World Championships promise to be another great event."
Tickets for the event will be available soon. Register for full details and updates via the Track Cycling World Championships website.