Your guide to the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup: Adelaide edition

It’s fast, it’s frenetic – it's the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup. For the first time since 2019, Australia is hosting a round of the UCI’s premier track racing series for nations. Here’s your guide to the three days of international racing coming up at the Adelaide Super-Drome.

So, what is the UCI Track Nations Cup?

Track is cycling’s oldest discipline and has been on the Olympic programme since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

The UCI Track Nations Cup was first held in 2021 as a renamed successor to the UCI Track Cycling World Cup, established in 1993.

Australia last hosted a round of the series in 2019 at Brisbane’s Anna Meares Velodrome, as part of the 2019/20 UCI Track Cycling World Cup.

The last time international track cycling ventured to the Adelaide Super-Drome was in 1997, as the final round of the world cup season that year.

This year, the UCI Track Nations Cup kicks off a packed calendar of international track events at the highest level, including the 2024 Paris Olympics Games in August, the Tissot UCI Track World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark, in October, followed by the UCI Track Champions League to round out the year.

For the UCI Track Nations Cup more specifically, the series will head to Hong Kong in March, and Milton, Canada in April for the final round.

This year’s series carries extra weight as the final qualifying events for the Paris Olympics, with quotas for National Olympic Committees based on the points scored by their athletes since July 9, 2022. Almost 200 riders will vie for Olympic glory in the Vélodrome National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines later this year.

How does the racing work?

Each round of the UCI Track Nations Cup spans three days, with the same programme of events for men and women: keirin, individual sprint, team sprint, Madison, omnium, team pursuit and elimination, i.e. the events of the Olympic programme, with the addition of the elimination race.

The first medals are awarded on the Friday with the finals of the eliminations, the team pursuits and the team sprints. After a full and intense weekend, racing draws to a close on Sunday evening with the finals of the men’s Madison, the men’s individual sprint, the women’s keirin and the women’s omnium (all four events: scratch, tempo race, elimination and points race).

How do I watch the racing?

Trackside is the best way to watch and experience the UCI Track Nations Cup. Seeing a velodrome with your own eyes always brings to life the uniqueness of track cycling.

Tickets are on sale via the website and Humanitix. Visit Track Nations Cup for more information.

An important reminder that it gets hot in a velodrome. Dress for the Australian summer when heading to the Adelaide Super-Drome because no air conditioning is ever in use due to the nature of the sport and environmental controls that make a velodrome as fast as it can be such as air density and temperature.

Be sure to visit SouthAustralia.com when you’re in Adelaide – it has all the latest on where to stay, where to eat and what to see while you’re in town.

How to watch the Adelaide UCI Track Nations Cup from home

You can watch the UCI Track Nations Cup live on SBS On Demand in Australia.

All three evening sessions in Adelaide will be broadcast live on SBS On Demand. See the scheduled broadcast times below.

Friday - 6:30pm - 9:35pm (AEDT)
Saturday - 6:30pm - 9:55pm (AEDT)
Sunday - 4:30pm - 8:11pm (AEDT)

How to follow the UCI Track Nations Cup

The UCI will be across the racing in Adelaide from their social media platforms on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

For extensive coverage from the ground, our AusCycling channels will be your go-to.

AusCycling Track on Facebook will be the main hub there, and AusCycling on Instagram and X will be where content will be shared on those platforms.

The Adelaide Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup website is also your information hub for the event.

Results and start lists can be found at Tissot Timing.

The 2024 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup in Adelaide is proudly supported by the South Australian Tourism Commission.

Feature picture: Will Palmer/SWpix.com