British Cycling, in partnership with UK Sport, EventScotland and Glasgow Life, has today announced that Glasgow’s Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome will host the UCI Track Cycling World Cup later this year.

The event will take place from 4-6 November at the velodrome at the £113million Emirates Arena, venue for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, and will see the Great Britain Cycling Team return to international competition on home soil for the first time following the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

The Glasgow event, which will see the world’s premier track cycling series return to the UK for the first time since 2014, will be the opening round of the 2016/17 UCI Track Cycling World Cup series, with three further rounds taking place in Apeldoorn (the Netherlands), Cali (Colombia) and Los Angeles (United States).

Tickets for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Glasgow are expected be in high demand and will go on general sale on Tuesday 19 July with British Cycling members having access to an exclusive pre-sale period from Thursday 14 July.

The Glasgow world cup is the latest major cycling event to be hosted in this country, as British Cycling continues its strategy to deliver a world-class programme of track cycling events in the UK. The event follows the successful delivery of the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships to 52,000 cycling fans in London earlier this year. Since 2012 this programme has seen three previous world cup rounds in London, Manchester and Glasgow as well as three UCI BMX Supercross World Cup events held in Manchester.

The UCI Track Cycling World Cup forms part of UK Sport’s major events programme that will invest over £50million of National Lottery funding to bring over 100 of the world’s most prestigious sporting events to the UK, including 50 world and European championships.

Jonny Clay, British Cycling’s cycle sport and membership director, said of the announcement:“The appetite for world-class international racing in the UK has never been greater and we are delighted to be able to bring a round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup to Glasgow.

“We witnessed at the Commonwealth Games what a fantastic venue the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome is for cycling and we’ll be hoping that a packed out crowd can roar the team on to success at their first major event post-Olympic Games.

“Not only will it be a fantastic opportunity for members of the public to see some of the Great Britain Cycling Team’s biggest stars, but it will also be a chance to see some of the next generation in action as the team starts to look ahead to Tokyo 2020.”

Simon Morton, chief operating officer of UK Sport, said: “It promises to be a mouth-watering prospect to see Great Britain’s track cyclists competing at a packed Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome so soon after Rio 2016 and at a venue where so many of them won medals at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“Bringing world-class track cycling to the UK through our National Lottery funded major events programme gives our athletes the opportunity to compete in front of a passionate home crowd, boost the local economy and inspire the nation.”

Deputy leader of Glasgow City Council and chair of Glasgow Life, councillor Archie Graham OBE, said: “The profile of cycling in Britain has never been higher following the success of our country’s top cyclists at the London Olympic Games and Glasgow Commonwealth Games. 

“The return of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome comes during an incredible period for cycling in Glasgow and just two years before we host the UEC European Track Cycling Championships as part of the inaugural 2018 European Championships.

“It will be a truly top-class event with the very best riders in the world set to go for gold in Scotland’s only indoor velodrome. Demand for tickets will be exceptionally high for what will be one of the highlights of the sporting calendar in 2016.”

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s director of events, said: “Cycling in Scotland continues to go from strength-to-strength and events, such as the UCI Track Cycling World Cup, help to inspire people to take part in the sport and come to realise the immense benefits it brings.

“This event will help to build Scotland’s reputation as the perfect stage for cycling events and follows the staging of a number of high-profile occasions in recent years, including multiple stages of the Tour of Britain and Tour Series, the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William and, of course, the 2014 Commonwealth Games.   

“Directly following the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, we expect thousands of enthusiasts to make their way to the magnificent Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in November, where a terrific experience witnessing some of the world’s leading track cyclists going head-to-head waits in store.”

Glasgow last hosted the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in 2012 with tickets for all key sessions selling out in less than one hour, making it one of the quickest selling events in the history of the sport in Britain. News of the event’s return to Glasgow comes just weeks after the city was named in the world’s top five at the SportBusiness Ultimate Sports Cities Awards – the longest established and globally recognised rankings of the world’s top sports hosts.   

The world cup will once again receive coverage on the BBC with details of broadcasts to be confirmed closer to the event.