Sprinting Showcase at UCI World Cup
With important World Championship qualifying points up for grabs the Manchester UCI World Cup has attracted some of the worlds best track sprinters with an awesome line up across the men’s and women’s sprint events.

In the men’s competition the rider to beat will be Olympic Sprint and Keirin Champion Ryan Bayley who will be making the trip to the Manchester Velodrome with Australian sprint legend Shane Kelly. With Jamie Staff, Craig MacLean, Ross Edgar and Matt Crampton racing in either the Keirin or Sprint the competition between the Aussies and Brits will make for interesting viewing especially in advance of the Commonwealth Games next year,

“The World Cup will be an important part of my training as I will be tapering in a similar way to my preparation for the Commonwealth Games”, commented MacLean. “I’ll be riding the Keirin which I haven’t raced very much so it will be interesting to see how I go. It’s always good to race against the Australians particularly in the UK so it should be exciting to watch.”

But it’s not just about these riders as other star contenders include the World Keirin Champion Tuen Mulder and World Kilo Champion Theo Bos, Junior Sprint World Champion and rising German star Maximillian Levy, Polish powerhouse Damian Zielinski and experienced Italian sprinter Roberto Chiappa who will be racing in Manchester for the first time since being disqualified at the World Championships in 2000. With French showman Arnaud Tournant and team mate Mickael Bourgain also in the line as well as riders from more than 15 other countries the action will be fast and the competition fierce.

In the women’s events World Sprint Champion Victoria Pendleton will be flying the flag for Great Britain but will be riding as part of the Science in Sport trade team. She will be racing in the rainbow colours in the sprint competition and even though there is no pressure to qualify for the World Championships Victoria is keen not to disappoint in front of the home crowd, “I hope I don’t disappoint too many people because I know my form is not as good as it will be for the Commonwealth Games and Worlds. I’ll do my best obviously and I hope its good enough. Being on my home track always gives me added confidence.”

Where Victoria will need to perform for qualifying points will be the Keirin and 500m Time Trial which she acknowledges will test her abilities, “When you spend a whole day focused on the sprint on day 1 and then on day 2 do the 500 followed by another day in the Keirin, it is actually a hard program”. She will, however, be hoping that she is up to the challenge with the objective to follow up the strong results from the Moscow World Cup to qualify for the Worlds in both events, “Manchester being my final World Cup before the Commonwealth Games would be the ideal situation for me.”

It won’t be an easy ride though as Victoria will face tough opposition from French sprinter and current Keirin World Champion Clara Sanchez, 500m TT World Champion Natallia Tsylinskaya from Belarus and the Junior Sprint and 500m TT World Champion Lizandra Guerra. The presence of Australian riders Anna Meares and Kristine Bayley will also spice up the competition and rivalry ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The men’s Keirin final and women’s sprint final will take place on Friday 9th December with the men’s sprint and women’s 500m TT finals on the Saturday. The women’s Keirin and the JKA Japanese Keirin will feature on the Sunday.

Intense Endurance Action at the Manchester World Cup
The Manchester round of the UCI World Cup between the 9th and 11th of December is set to witness a superb display of championship endurance racing with some of the top riders fighting it out for qualifying points ahead of the World Championships next year.

In the women’s events the star attraction will be Britain’s Nicole Cooke who will be racing the Scratch and Points races. Following her amazing display to destroy the field in the endurance omnium at Revolution 10 she is certainly on track for a podium place in both events and will provide tough competition for the international challengers. In the Scratch Race World Championships bronze medalist Lyudmyla Vypyraylo will pose the greatest threat with Katherine Bates of Australia and Olympic silver medalist Belem Guerrero of Mexico the riders to beat in the Points Race. Cooke will be joined by either Kate Cullen or Nikki Harris from the GB squad with Rachel Heal to race the individual Pursuit.

In the men’s events the action will be intense in the Points Race with the three medalists from the Athens Olympics all in the race. The Olympic Champion Mikhail Ignatiev from Russia, Olympic silver medalist Joan Llaneras from Spain and Olympic Bronze medalist Guido Fulst from Germany will be the riders to beat. They will come up against some young faces from the Great Britain squad with Ben Swift, Geraint Thomas, Ross Sander and Ian Stannard vying for the place. Add into the mix Ioannis Tamouridis of Greece who was the 2005 World Championship Silver medalist, Sean Finning of Australia, ljio Keisse of Belgium, Czechoslovakia’s Martin Blaha and Sweden’s Magnus Backstedt and this should be one of the highlights of the weekend. The men’s Points Race final will take place on Saturday 10th December with the women’s Points Race on Friday the 9th.

Tickets and full details of the race programme from each day at the UCI World Cup are available at www.worldtrackcycling.com or by calling 01372 464 666

Tickets
Tickets are available in both standard and premium seating. Standard – is for unreserved seating. Premium – is for reserved, numbered seating in the home straight (Block N) and the back straight (Block E).

1-Day Premium: Adult £18 – Child £9
1-Day Standard: Adult £12 – Child £6

2-Day Premium: Adult £32 – Child £16
2-Day Standard: Adult £20 – Child £10

3-Day Premium: Adult £45 – Child £22
3-Day Standard: Adult £30 – Child £15

UCI World Cup – Manchester
December 9th – 11th 2005
Manchester Velodrome – National Cycling Centre – Stuart Street – Manchester – M11 4DQ

Race Programme
Friday 9th December
13.00 – 16.55: Qualifying Session
18.20 – 21.50: Evening Session and Finals
Men – Scratch Race Final (15km)
Women – Points Race Final (20km)
Men – Keirin Final
Men – Individual Pursuit Final
Women – Sprint Final
Men – Kilometer Final

Saturday 10th December
08:45 – 13.10: Qualifying Session
13:15 – 16:15: Afternoon Session and Finals
Men – Team Pursuit Final
Women – 500m Time Trial Final
Women – Individual Pursuit Final
Men – Sprint Final
Men – Points Race Final (30km)

Sunday 11th December
10:00 – 11:40: Qualifying Session
11:45 – 15:30: Afternoon Session and Finals
Women – Scratch Race Final (10km)
Men – Madison Final (40km)
Women – Keirin Final
Men – Team Sprint Final
Men – JKA Japanese Keirin Final