Racing returns to Milton, Canada, concludes in Hong Kong next January
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Men's Team Pursuit - Team Canada was on track to win before a crash(Image credit: Rob Jones)
Team USA women's Team Pursuit squad win world title at 2017 Track World Championships(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
New Zealand's Emma Cumming competes in the women's 200m sprint during the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Cyclists compete in the men's Keirin first round during the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
Cyclists compete in the men's Keirin first round during the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup(Image credit: Michael Aisner)
The UCI on Monday released the dates and venues for the 2018-19 track World Cup calendar, with the six-race series starting in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, on October 19 and winding up in Hong Kong on January 27, 2019.
The series will return to Milton, Canada, and Cambridge, New Zealand, along with stops in Berlin, and London's Lee Valley VeloPark.
The series starts off in France in the velodrome that houses the headquarters of the French cycling federation. Located in the western outskirts of Paris near Versailles, the arena hosted the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in 2015, its first year of operation.
A week later, the World Cup returns to Milton for the second consecutive year. The local velodrome, on the outskirts of Toronto, was built for the 2015 PanAm games.
The World Cup starts up again after a month-long break with three days of racing in Berlin starting on November 30. The local velodrome there hosted the World Championships in 1999, and the World Cup round will also serve as a rehearsal for the 2020 World Championships.
The 2018-19 WorldCup stops next in London, where the Lee Valley VeloPark will host three days of racing starting December 14. The venue previously hosted the 2012 Olympics and the 2016 World Championships.
"The Velodrome at Lee Valley VeloPark is an historic venue, and it's amazing that we're able to go back there again for the Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup," Jason Kenny said in a statement released by British Cycling.
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The first World Cup of 2019 will take place in Cambridge, New Zealand, about 150km south of Aukland. The venue hosted its last World Cup in 2015, and Cycling New Zealand CEO Andrew Matheson says the foundations and proven capability are in place for 2019 to be another successful event.
"The benchmark is set, and we're excited to be giving track cycling and general sports fans across the country another opportunity to see our world class and world champion riders taking on their international rivals here at home,” Matheson said in a statement released by Cycling New Zealand.
The 2018-19 World Cup concludes at the end of January in Hong Kong. It will be the second World Cup event to take place in the velodrome since it was built in 2013. The city's velodrome also welcomed the UCI World Championships in 2017, the second time Asia organised the discipline's leading annual event after Maebashi, Japan, in 1990.
The 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships presented by Tissot will take place in Pruszkow, Poland, from February 27 to March 3.
The 2018-19 World Cup will be part of the qualification campaign toward the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
2018-19 UCI Track World Cup Calendar:
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Fra) – October 19-21, 2018 Milton (Can) – October 26-28, 2018 Berlin (Ger) – November 30-December 2, 2018 London (GBr) – December 14-16, 2018 Cambridge (NZl) – January 18-20, 2019 Hong Kong (HKg) – January 25-27, 2019
