Less than ten months from the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Track European Championships that will be held in the modern Omnisport facility in Apeldoorn (Netherlands) from 16 to 20 October, will include a series of new interesting initiatives in view of the OG.
The spotlight will be on the best Track riders from Europe during five days of racing, which will also be one of the last opportunities to compete internationally before the Olympics.
Among the 315 registered from 26 countries including some of the best international Track cyclists, such as Elia Viviani (Italy), Olympic gold medallist at Rio de Janeiro in the Omnium and current European Road champion, the French riders Bryan Coquard and Benjamin Thomas who have always alternated between Track and Road with excellent results, as well as the Dane Lasse Norman Hansen winner in 2012, aged only 20, of the gold medal at the London Olympics in the Omnium, as well as Theo Bos (Netherlands).
The participation of the multiple Olympic champion (six titles won in his career) Jason Kenny will also be very interesting since he will be one of the leaders of the British national team along with Ed Clancy (three Olympic gold medals and five World Championships gold medals to his name) and the sprinters Gregory Baugé (France) and Tomas Babek (Czech Republic).
In the Women’s events, one of the stars will undoubtedly be the local girl Kirsten Wild who will be competing in the Omnium, a speciality in which she is current world champion and opponents such as the British four-times Olympic champion, Laura Kenny and the Dane Amalie Dideriksen.
Rocco Cattaneo, President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme: «The Apeldoorn Championships that will begin in a few days will have a very high level of participation, confirming that Track cycling is one of the priorities for European federations. The passionate and knowledgeable Dutch public will be able to enjoy exciting and spectacular races and also see close up the riders who will be competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 10 months. Track cycling in Europe has always been one of the disciplines with the biggest talent pools and we should not forget that at the 2016 Rio Olympics 9 out of the 10 titles at Rio 2016 were won by European riders.
I would like to thank the Dutch Cycling Federation presided by Marcel Wintels, the city of Apeldoorn and its Mayor Petra van Wingerden-Boers, the company LIBEMA, a cast-iron guarantee in terms of organisation and which has always been closely involved with UEC events, and all the volunteers for their professionalism and passion in the staging of this great sporting event.».
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