From 12 to 16 February 2025, the Sport Vlaanderen Heusden-Zolder Velodroom Limburg in Heusden-Zolder (Belgium) will host the Elite Track European Championships, the event that opens the Union Européenne de Cyclisme’s season and which will see the continent's best specialists go head-to-head. With no fewer than 326 entries from 26 countries, the field of participants promises to be of a very high standard, offering a series of highly interesting highlights in all the events that will award the 22 titles up for grabs.
Among the competition's headliners is multiple Olympic, world and European champion Harrie Lavreysen from the Netherlands, who has dominated the speed sector in recent years and is ready to confirm his status as a benchmark in the discipline. Alongside him, his compatriot Yoeri Havik, world champion in the Madison in 2023, will be taking part in the Endurance events.
Riding for Italy will be Elia Viviani, multiple European champion and Olympic gold medallist at Rio 2016 in the Omnium, as well as double world champion in the Elimination. As well as Viviani, winner of stages of the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta Espana, the Italian team will also include Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini, Olympic champions at Paris 2024 in the Madison.
Great Britain will be looking to Matthew Walls, Olympic gold medallist in the Omnium in Tokyo, while Germany will be counting on Roger Kluge, a veteran of the Track who can also shine in Endurance races, and Portugal on the duo who won Olympic gold in Paris in the Madison, Rui Oliveira and Iuri Leitao, the latter also silver medallist in the Omnium at the Olympic Games last summer.
In the women's category, the German riders Lea Sophie Friedrich and Pauline Sophie Grabosch will be present in the Sprint events, as will Franziska Brauße, a reference in Endurance events, already European champion and Olympic champion with Lisa Klein and Mieke Kröge, and Dutch rider Maike van der Duin, a specialist in Endurance events. Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands), the current European Road race champion and world Scratch race champion, will also be in the line-up.
Belgium will be competing with a strong and ambitious national team. In the Endurance events, all eyes will be on Lindsay De Vylder and Jules Hesters, leading athletes in the group specialities, while in the women's events, all eyes will be on the young Hélène Hesters, Katrijn De Clercq and Marith Vanhove.
Enrico Della Casa, President of the Union Européenne de Cyclisme: ‘The Union Européenne de Cyclisme has long had a deep connection with Heusden-Zolder, a venue that has become a benchmark for our sport over the years. From the European Cup events and the BMX European Championships to the Time-Trials at the Road European Championships, where it was the starting point, to this extraordinary new chapter in its cycling history: the Track European Championships.
It is a real privilege to inaugurate the long series of major events in this modern, avant-garde structure, which represents a concrete investment in the future of cycling. In the year following the Olympic Games, it sends out a strong signal, confirming the fundamental importance of continuing to develop infrastructures of excellence for the growth of the sport.
I would like to thank the Government of Flanders, with minister Annick De Ridder, and the Province of Limburg, with Governor Jos Lantmeeters , and the Mayor of the municipality of Heusden-Zolder, Mario Borremans & the National lottery with Jannie Haek and the for their confidence and, above all, for their commitment to the realisation of this facility, destined to become a point of reference for European cycling. I would also like to thank Belgian Cycling and its President Tom Van Damme, with whom we have enjoyed a solid and fruitful collaboration for many years, as well as the well-established organising committee of Circuit Zolder with Harry Steegmans.”
