Cycling Canada announces bid to host three consecutive UCI track World Cups
If successful, the UCI track World Cup bid would grant the Mattamy National Cycling Centre hosting rights for three seasons in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, Ont., has already hosted several international events, such as the Milton International Challenge, and of course, the 2015 Pan Am Games. But as Cycling Canada announced on Sept. 28, a bid has been made to the UCI to add another global event to the velodrome’s gilded reputation: the track cycling World Cup.
If successful, the bid would grant the Mattamy National Cycling Centre hosting rights for three consecutive seasons—2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20—in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Mattamy, a Category 1 homologated velodrome first built to host the track events of the 2015 Pan Am Games, certainly meets the UCI’s requirements to host World Cup-level competitions — and as Canadian Cycling Magazine has previously reported, it’s one of only two velodromes in North America to do so. To Cycling Canada officials, noting the stature of World Cup events as the highest level of competition in track cycling, hosting the track World Cup on Canadian soil—especially three of them in a row—would mean major things for the discipline’s development in Canada, and the development of Canadian riders.
“We are pleased to be considered as a potential host to top level World Cup events in Milton,” said Jacques Landry, Cycling Canada’s high-performance director. “Holding these World Cups in our backyard will help continue to build the popularity of track cycling in Canada, all the while giving our best track athletes the chance to shine on the international stage in front of their home crowd leading into the Tokyo Olympics.”
Details about the 2017-18 event will be released during the UCI Congress which coincides with the road world championships, happening from Oct. 9 to 16.
