Record holders take to the track in Cali
Second World Cup round an important qualifier
The second round of the UCI Track World Cup will take place in Cali, Colombia this week, and provides an important qualifying round for the 2011 world championships as well as a chance to begin to fine-tune performances for the 2012 Olympic Games.
In the world of track cycling, countries must balance travel costs and fatigue against the opportunities to compete and win. The US world record-holding women's pursuit team, Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Lauren Tamayo, will race together for the first time since they set the mark in Mexico earlier this year. Racing under the OUCH Pro Cycling banner, they won't see the Australians who won in Melbourne, but will face strong competition from the Germans who claimed silver last month.
Australia's sprinters Anna Meares and Shane Perkins, who won their events in Melbourne, will not be present, opening the door for Victoria Pendleton and Jason Kenny of Great Britain to take over the World Cup lead.
Great Britain will come full gas with its top men's sprint team, while New Zealand will send a strong men's pursuit team to try and gain back the gold.
North America will be well represented, with the national team fielding a men's sprint team and Bobby Lea for the omnium, while the women will focus on the endurance events. The OUCH pro team will field the men's and women's pursuit teams as well as Jimmy Watkins in the sprint and keirin. Canada will try and capture the omnium titles with Tara Whitten and Zach Bell and will also take on the team events.
The Cali World Cup is also an important opportunity for the South and Central American teams to qualify riders, and the host country of Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela all are fielding packed teams.
A total of 300 riders from 38 different countries are set to take part in the racing which begins on Thursday, December 16 and runs through Saturday the 18th.
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Amazon Prime Day bike deals: The sale is almost finished, this is your last chance to grab yourself a deal
Don't hang around, Amazon Prime Day is coming to an end but there are still some great deals available -
Where's the beef? The UAE-Visma Tour de France rivalry is intense but respectful so far
"UAE and Visma are perhaps the strongest teams but only one can win," says Mauro Gianetti -
'I wonder how they recover like that every day' – Mathieu van der Poel loses yellow jersey at Tour de France as Grand Tour fatigue sets in
Dutchman more than satisfied with performance in first seven stages despite getting dropped on return to Mûr-de-Bretagne -
'I don't know if I'm getting any closer to that win' – Oscar Onley best of the rest behind Pogačar and Vingegaard on Tour de France stage 7
World champion says young Scot has 'showed in the past already how a superb rider he is, with a punchy kick' after third place at Mûr-de-Bretagne