1956 UCI track world championships

The 46th UCI Track World Championships took place from August 27 to September 2, 1956 on the Velodrome in Ordrup near Copenhagen . This was the ninth time that Denmark hosted a World Track Championship. The cycling track, which dates from 1888 and has since been renewed several times, was made of cement and was 370 meters long.

There was a scandal at the award ceremony: UCI President Achille Joinard should slip the rainbow jersey on the winner, the Australian Graeme French ; However, French was still sitting on a bench to take a breather after the strenuous 100-kilometer race. The UCI President angrily threw the jersey on a table and left the award ceremony to another member of the Presidium. At a later award ceremony, Joinard was whistled by around 14,000 spectators because of this "faux pas", as the Danish press critically called it. The UCI President later publicly apologized for his behavior after the Danish Cycling Federation initially refused to give him an honor intended for him.

The West German team of the Association of German Cyclists was only able to achieve successes in the indoor cycling world championships running parallel to this, which led Spiegel to the conclusion: “The Germans took considerably more places at a festive reception of the International Cyclists Union (UCI) in the Hotel Richmond in Copenhagen , because the board of the financially weak Bund Deutscher Radfahrer eV (BDR) was fully on the spot - with a daily expense rate of 35 marks and free travel. ” However, the care of the athletes was bad: There was one driver no hotel room, the officials preferred to go sightseeing rather than to watch the races, and too few jerseys had been taken so that two drivers had to take turns on one jersey. In addition, as requested by the Danish organizers, the representatives of the BDR failed to bring a record with the national anthem.

Results of the professionals

discipline	space	country	athlete
sprint	1	Italy	Antonio Maspes
	2	United Kingdom	Reg Harris
	3	Switzerland	Oscar Plattner
Single pursuit (5000 m)	1	Italy	Guido Messina
	2	France	Jacques Anquetil
	3	Denmark	Kay Werner Nielsen
Standing race (100 km)	1	Australia	Graeme French / Georges Grolimund
	2	Spain	Guillermo Timoner / Felicien Van Ingelghem
	3	Switzerland	Walter Bucher / Arthur Pasquier

Results of the amateurs

discipline	space	country	athlete
sprint	1	France	Michel Rousseau
	2	Argentina	Jorge Bátiz
	3	Italy	Guglielmo Pesenti
Single pursuit (4000 m)	1	Italy	Ercole Baldini
	2	Italy	Leandro Faggin
	3	United Kingdom	John Geddes

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cycling , September 4, 1956
2. ^ Cycling , September 11, 1956
3. ↑ Der Spiegel v. September 12, 1956

literature

• Cycling , August / September 1956