Inside Track Cycling

Systems and Politics

Analysis of track cycling’s governing structures: federations, Olympic programmes, policy decisions and the forces shaping the sport’s direction.

Velodrome interior, observed from the stands
Governance: ParaCycling

Why Para-Track Still Has No Real International Season

Para-track is being trained, staffed and funded like a serious high-performance discipline while still being calendared like an afterthought. That mismatch has become too large to hide. The old argument no longer holds. This is not a category waiting to prove its seriousness. The riders are too good for that. The equipment demands are too precise. The classification detail is too exacting. The tandem partnerships are too important. The coaching load is too heavy. None of this belongs to a side project.

Governance: UCI Points System

Why Road Teams Still See Track Cycling as Pointless

The problem is usually disguised as scheduling. A rider wants to go to the track, perhaps for a World Cup, perhaps for Europeans, sometimes even for Worlds, and the road team sees inconvenience rather than value. A road camp matters. A road block matters. The team ranking matters. Track, too often, still does not. The UCI's 2027 changes recognise part of that problem, but not enough of it. The conversation is usually polite. That is part of the problem.

Governance: Neutral Athletes

Track Cycling's AIN Problem: Why the Current Model Still Feels Unresolved

Russian and Belarusian athletes may now compete under neutral status, but in track cycling the category still carries unresolved questions around credibility, anti-doping oversight and what "independent" really means in practice. At Konya, the contradiction was hard to miss. The crowd was sparse, but within it there were still recognisable pockets of support for the AIN riders. That was welcome in one sense. Sport should not become a place where athletes are met only with silence or hostility.

Governance: Structural Analysis

What Perth Exposed about the UCI's World Cup Relaunch

At one point in Perth, above the racing and the usual indoor soundtrack of wheels, whistles and applause, came the unmistakable blast of a vuvuzela. It was faintly absurd, genuinely funny and, in its own way, rather perfect. One fan, somewhere in the stands, seemed determined to create atmosphere on behalf of an entire international series. It felt unmistakably Australian: noisy, committed, slightly chaotic and impossible to ignore.

Governance: World Cups

The Return of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Series

With the UCI Track Cycling World Cup returning, this is more than a calendar adjustment. It is the revival of one of the sport’s most important modern institutions. For over two decades, the World Cup shaped Olympic cycles, built rivalries, and gave structure to the international season. To understand why its return matters, you have to understand what it once was. The Track Cycling World Cup was launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale in the early 1990s.