The upcoming Track Elite European Championships will take place in the modern town of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France), close to Paris from 19 to 23 October 2016, and will attract great interest for various good reasons.
280 athletes will be competing in the continental event (95 women and 185 men) and will award 23 titles. With the introduction of the Madison for Women, for the first time the Men's and Women's categories will be competing for the same number of medals (for the traditional specialities) but this is not the only new feature. The opening evening programme for the Championships (Wednesday 19 October) will present the Stayer European Championships, the spectacular discipline that is raced behind big motorbikes.
The European Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines will also be one of the first times we will see the new Omnium format (4 races the same day) recently approved by the UCI, that will make this event even more interesting, especially considering the agreement with the EBU (Eurovision Broadcasting Union) to broadcast live TV races in over 60 countries.
David Lappartient, President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme: «The Track Elite European Championships are a key cycling event on our continent. They are particularly significant since some of the best world specialists will be taking part, some of whom big names that have won gold medals at the recent Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, showing the great technical skill of the European movement such as Steven Burke, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker. I would especially like to thank all of those who have helped organise this event: City Youth and Sport Ministry and its Minister, Patrick Kanner, the Secretary of State for Sport and Thierry Braillard, the Conurbation Community in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and its President Michel Laugier, the Île-de-France Region and its President, Valérie Pécresse, Yvelines General Council and its President Pierre Bedier ».
The competition line up
Among the athletes registered at the Track European Championships, three gold medalists in Rio de Janeiro: Steven Burke, Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker (team pursuit); also numerous world champions: the Spaniard, Sebastian Mora (scratch), the Italian Filippo Ganna (individual pursuit), the Pole Katarzyna Pawlowska (points race) and the Team Sprint Champions: the Russians, Daria Shmeleva and Anastasiia Voinova, who also won the 500 metres this year.
Also competing will be the French multiple champion and winner of three stages of the Tour de France Sylvain Chavanel, the sprinters Robin Wagner (Czech Republic), Kevin Sireau (France), Sam Ligtlee (Netherlands) and Alexander Dubchenko (Russia), and the Dutch rider former Scratch World Champion Kirsten Wild, silver medalist at the 2016 Road World Championships in Doha, and the recent Road Junior World Champion the Italian Elisa Balsamo, who also won this year two World and European titles (Team Pursuit and Junior Omnium).
