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Cycling scraps track Champions League after four years

Staff WritersReuters
Harrie Lavreysen and Matthew Richardson shone in the Champions League that's now been ditched. (AP PHOTO)
Camera IconHarrie Lavreysen and Matthew Richardson shone in the Champions League that's now been ditched. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP

Track cycling's Champions League has been scrapped four years after its launch was hailed as a mind-blowing new way to present a sport often unfathomable to the general public.

A joint statement on Monday from cycling's governing body, the UCI, and media partner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Sports confirmed that the 2024 season was the last.

WBD originally committed to an eight-year partnership but the statement said it was "re-defining" its involvement in the promotion of track cycling.

The UCI Track Champions League featured the world's top endurance and sprint riders competing across multiple rounds in cities such as Palma, London, Berlin and Paris from November-December with the points leaders in each category being crowned overall champions and pocketing 25,000 euros.

Spectacular light shows, music and a rapid and simplified format were meant to appeal to fans new to track cycling and designed to be TV-friendly. The two rounds held in London each year were hugely popular with large crowds but other venues found it harder to sell tickets.

Matthew Richardson, who was competing as an Australian cyclist at the time before his recent switch of allegiance to his British homeland, won the sprint competition in the season's second edition in 2022, while his Dutch rival, the great Harrie Lavreysen, won the other three.

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But the venture was damaged at the second London round in December when a bad crash involving Britain's Olympic champion Katy Marchant meant the rest of the night's programme was cancelled.

The UCI said the Track Nations Cup would be revitalised and become the Track World Cup from 2026 and that the collaboration with WBD would continue over the next three years.

"Over the next three years we will focus on coverage of the UCI Track World Cup," UCI president David Lappartient said.

"I am confident that track cycling will continue to grow in popularity, leading up to and beyond the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games."

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