Australian quintet to race in season four of the UCI Track Champions League

Australians Kristina Clonan, Leigh Hoffman, Thomas Cornish, Blake Agnoletto and Tayte Ryan will race in season four of the UCI Track Champions League.

Cornish is the only Australian of the five competing who will not be making his UCI Track Champions League debut at France's Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines this weekend after competing in 2022.

Hoffman and Clonan join Cornish in returning to Europe after a busy year abroad at the Olympic Games and 2024 UCI Track World Championships, where Agnoletto made his ARA Australian Cycling Team Track Worlds debut after several UCI Track Nations Cup appearances.

For both the sprint and endurance leagues, 18 women and 18 men will compete for the two prestigious blue jerseys across five rounds, with 28 nationalities represented in the series.

This year, the pathway into the UCI Track Champions League was expanded, offering riders multiple routes into the competition.

Formerly based only on results from the UCI Track World Championships, now outstanding results from the rest of the UCI International Track Calendar – including the Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup, Olympic Games, and continental championships – also offered ways for riders to qualify.

Remaining places in the 18-strong roster for each competition are filled using a roll-down system and wildcard allocations for bright young talent and riders of exceptional quality from all over the world, in order to recognise their achievements.

Thomas Cornish is the only non-debutant of the Australian quintet after racing in the 2022 UCI Track Champions League season. Picture: SWpix.com

18-year-old Ryan falls into that category after winning his second and third junior world titles in August at the 2024 UCI Junior Track World Championships in Luoyang, China.

The Adelaide product's junior kilo world championship defence included breaking the world record held by Cornish since the 2018 edition of the event.

Series schedule

The action kicks off on November 23 just outside Paris in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, home of the Paris 2024 Olympics track cycling action.

Round one will be followed by a double-header in the Netherlands for rounds two and three in Apeldoorn, before a finale weekend double-header at London's Lee Valley VeloPark for rounds four and five.

• Round 1: November 23, St-Quentin-en-Yvelines / Velodrome National de St-Quentin-en-Yvelines
• Round 2: November 29, Apeldoorn / Omnisport Apeldoorn
• Round 3: November 30, Apeldoorn / Omnisport Apeldoorn
• Round 4: December 6, London / Lee Valley VeloPark
• Round 5 / Grand Finale: December 7, London / Lee Valley VeloPark

How to watch

All five rounds of the 2024 UCI Track Champions League will be broadcast live in Australia on SBS On Demand.

Feature image: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com