Major cycling is about to... invade China: both for road racing and track racing, the attention of enthusiasts is about to turn to the great Asian country.

The Shanghai Velodrome, located in the Chongming district and home to a Continental Development Satellite of the UCI World Cycling Centre since 2024, will host the UCI Tissot 2026 Track Cycling World Championships from October 14-18. This will be the first edition of the event to be held in mainland China.

More than 475 riders, including reserves, representing 47 nations, will participate in the speed and endurance races on the program. Twenty-two UCI World Champion titles will be awarded: 11 in women's races and 11 in men's races.

AT FULL SPEED

Today we focus our attention on the speed events that will award at least one world title on each race day.

Eight UCI World Champion titles will be decided among the sprint specialties, with the finals scheduled as follows:

- Wednesday, October 14: women's and men's team sprint
- Thursday, October 15: men's Keirin
- Friday, October 16: women's individual sprint and men's time trial
- Saturday, October 17: women's time trial
- Sunday, October 18: women's Keirin and men's individual sprint

HARRIE AND THE DUTCH PHENOMENA

Last year in Santiago, Chile, the Netherlands won seven of the eight sprint titles. Harrie Lavreysen claimed four of them, winning the individual sprint, team sprint, Keirin and kilometre time trial, becoming the first rider to win four titles in a single edition. His total now stands at 20 UCI World Championship titles on track, a record previously held by Frenchman Arnaud Tournant (14 titles) the year before.

In 2026, the Dutchman spent several months in Japan refining his Keirin skills before moving to Los Angeles with the 2028 Olympic Games already firmly in sight. The same objective will influence his program in Shanghai, where he will defend three of his four titles: the individual sprint, the Keirin and the team sprint, alongside Jeffrey Hoogland and Roy van den Berg. He will not defend the kilometre title instead, a specialty evidently not prepared with care also because it is not included in the Olympic program, unlike the other three.

In the women's races, his compatriot Hetty van de Wouw won three titles in 2025: individual sprint, team sprint and kilometre. After her three silver medals in 2024 in Ballerup, Denmark, she has established herself as the world's best sprinter. In Shanghai she will line up again in all four races, alongside Kimberly Kalee and Steffie van der Peet in the team sprint, with which she won the Netherlands' first world title in that event.

MEANWHILE THE WORLD...

The only speed title that escaped the Netherlands in 2025 went to Japanese rider Mina Sato, two-time reigning UCI Keirin World Champion. A third title saw her join Australian Anna Meares and German Kristina Vogel as the only triple UCI Keirin World Champions. She also became the first cyclist to win the event at three consecutive UCI World Championships.

To do so, she will have to resist established champions like New Zealander Ellesse Andrews, emerging talents like Colombian Stefany Cuadrado and the growing strength of Chinese sprinters. China distinguished itself in speed events during the 2026 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, leading the team standings for both women and men, while Lijuan Wang won the women's Keirin classification ahead of compatriot Liying Yuan.

The 2026 UCI Track Cycling World Cup also confirmed the form of the British Emma Finucane and Matthew Richardson, winners of their respective individual sprint classifications, as well as Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang, who surpassed Harrie Lavreysen in the Keirin classification. After recovering from a hip injury, Matthew Richardson will be on the starting line in Shanghai, ready to challenge the world's best sprinters.

ITALY WANTS TO GROW

As for Italy's speed program, the World Championships in China, which awards the first points in the Olympic qualification pathway, represents an important test for a group of young riders already protagonists in recent years at international events, to which is added eighteen-year-old Filippo Cusumano, junior world bronze in team sprint and protagonist of rapid growth after the transition from BMX to track. Matteo Bianchi, Mattia Predomo, Stefano Minuta represent a certainty for the team sprint tournament and aim to continue their growth path as does Fabio Del Medico. In the women's field Miriam Vece, an athlete of acknowledged world value, is the reference point: alongside her an experienced athlete like Rachele Barbieri, who returns to the National team, and young Matilde Cenci.

Schedule (Local times. Shanghai is six hours ahead of Italy)

Wednesday, October 14
10.30-16.36 – Men's and women's team pursuit qualifications; men's and women's team sprint qualifications
18.30-20.37 – Evening session
Finals: women's scratch; women's team sprint; men's team sprint.

Thursday, October 15
12.00-14.56 – Men's Keirin; women's speed
17.00-20.35 – Evening session
Finals: men's team pursuit; women's elimination; men's Keirin; men's scratch; women's team pursuit.

Friday, October 16
12.00-14.52 – Men's kilometre; women's omnium; men's individual pursuit
17.00-21.04 – Evening session
Finals: men's points race; men's kilometre; men's individual pursuit; women's omnium; women's speed.

Saturday, October 17
11.00-15.20 – Women's kilometre; men's speed; men's omnium; women's individual pursuit
17.30-21.15 – Evening session
Finals: women's kilometre; women's Madison; women's individual pursuit; men's omnium.

Sunday, October 18
11.00-12.11 – Men's speed; women's Keirin
13.30-17.23 – Closing session
Finals: women's points race; men's elimination; men's speed; women's Keirin; men's Madison.