UCI Track World Cup London 2014 on BBC Sport

The capital is gearing up for the biggest international cycling event to be held in the city since London 2012 with the UK leg of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup and fans can follow the action with BBC Sport.

International teams from 39 nations will descend on London’s Lee Valley VeloPark, situated within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, for the first Track World Cup meeting to be held in the capital since 2012, when the event acted as the final warm-up event before the Olympic Games.

Homegrown talent including Olympic champions Jason Kenny, Ed Clancy, Philip Hindes, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott will return to the same venue that saw them win gold at London 2012, as they ride in the second instalment of the 2014/15 UCI Track Cycling World Cup series.

The event sees many of world’s elite in action, all looking to build qualifying points that will ultimately decide riders for next season’s World Championships and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The British men’s team sprint and women’s team pursuit squads were among those to taste victory in the first World Cup meeting of the year in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in November, with the team coming home with two gold and two silver medals overall, which placed them second on the medal table behind Australia.

Round two takes place at the Lee Valley VeloPark, the hugely popular host venue of the London 2012 cycling programme, and a fittingly strong Great Britain team will be fielded for the event with the five reigning Olympic champions all set to return to the venue where they achieved their greatest career accolade.

The event is part of UK Sport’s Gold Event Series, a £27million National Lottery funded initiative which aims to bring over 70 of the world’s most prestigious sporting events to the UK by 2019.

It also follows previous UK legs of the World Cup series in Manchester (2013) and Glasgow (2012), which provided the chance for British fans to see many of their favourite riders in action over action-packed three-day event.

Britain’s will go up against many of the world’s top track riders over the course of the weekend at Lee Valley VeloPark.

German heavyweights Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte will join Australia’s Anna Meares and Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen as rival Olympic champions returning to Lee Valley, while triple world champion Francois Pervis will look for a return to form in the men’s keirin following this month’s Revolution Series upset.

The programme of racing in each Track World Cup event mirrors the events in an Olympic Games every four years, providing a great place to get into the sport of track cycling and experience the thrill of witnessing the world’s top cyclists in action.

Ahead of the event, Olympic gold medallist Laura Trott said: “Lee Valley VeloPark is such an iconic venue.

“Growing up nearby, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support people in London and around the UK have shown for cycling since 2012.

“I’m looking forward to reliving those unforgettable moments to another roaring crowd.”

With sell-out sessions for Saturday and Sunday’s event finals, cycling fans will be treated to an unforgettable atmosphere as the stars of 2012 attempt to bring the famous velodrome roar back this weekend. 

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The UK leg of the UCI Track World Cup will once again receive extensive coverage on the BBC with live coverage and highlights programming.

BBC Sport will bring cycling fans all the action from each evening session during the second round of the series in London over the weekend of December 5-7.

Friday’s opening finals session will be broadcast live on the BBC Sport website from 6.55pm, with a TV repeat following on BBC Red Button at 11.00pm.

Then on Saturday and Sunday, both finals sessions will be shown live and in full on BBC Red Button, as well as the BBC Sport website.

Due to the volume of other live sport on the BBC over the weekend, including UK Championship snooker and the FA Cup 2nd Round, there will be no live action on BBC network TV during the event, unlike previous years.

However, a 90-minute highlights show will be broadcast on BBC One on the following Saturday (December 13) at 3.00pm, presented by Jonathan Edwards, which will round up all the key moments from the event.

Commentary from Lee Valley VeloPark comes from Simon Brotherton and Chris Boardman, while Jill Douglas conducts interviews with the key riders.

All TV coverage will be available to watch/listen online via the BBC Sport website and app, while the BBC One’s highlights show will be on BBC iPlayer for seven days following transmission.

Viewers with Connected TVs will be able to access BBC online content for the latest news, videos, interviews and highlights from the event, which will also be available on the BBC cycling website.

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OFFICIAL WEBSITE      RACE SCHEDULE      ENTRY LIST

 

Friday 5th December

DAY 1: Evening Session

LIVE: 6.55pm-10.25pm  BBC Sport Website  /  Replay: 11.00pm-2.30pm  BBC Red Button


Saturday 6th December

DAY 2: Evening Session

LIVE: 6.55pm-10.10pm  BBC Red Button


Sunday 7th December

DAY 3: Afternoon Session

LIVE: 3.35pm-6.45pm  BBC Red Button


Saturday 13th December

UCI Track Cycling World Cup London

Highlights: 3.00pm-4.30pm  BBC One

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