UEC European Rail Championships

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The jersey of the European champion
European champion jersey until 2015

The UEC Track European Championships are annual cycling competitions on the track organized by the European cycling association Union Européenne de Cyclisme (UEC).

history

European championships have been organized in professional track cycling for over 100 years . The events did not take place regularly every year, but sporadically, and were advertised by private organizers for professional athletes; the designation was not protected. After the Second World War , "European championships" were held more often on winter tracks , not only the "classic" disciplines such as sprinting , but also such as Omnium (not identical to today's World Cup and Olympic discipline Omnium ), Derny and two-man team driving , which were not on the program at the UCI track world championships . These European championships had no official character, but were nevertheless associated with prestige, especially since a gold jersey was introduced for the European champions, on which the rainbow stripes of the world championship jersey could be seen vertically. It is said that Belgian cyclist Rik Van Steenbergen particularly valued this jersey (which he won six times) and therefore wore it frequently in races.

In 1956, the European railway organizers founded the Union Européenne des Vélodromes d'hiver , which until the 1971/72 season was the only one to organize European championships for professionals; there were still no continental championships for amateurs. However, the organizers could decide which drivers took part, and teams of drivers of different nationalities were allowed in the two-man team. In addition, non-European racing drivers were allowed, which is why the Australian drivers Reginald Arnold and Danny Clark also won European titles.

In 1965 the World Cycling Federation Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) formed two "sub-divisions", the Federation of International Amateur Cycling (FIAC) for amateurs and the Fédération Internationale de Cyclisme Professionnel (FICP) for professionals . The FICP took over the organization of European championships for professionals from 1972, but these were officially called Championnats d'Hiver , since non-Europeans were still allowed to participate, and the starting drivers were selected beforehand. The previous gold jersey has been replaced by a white one with the FICP logo. The last winter championships were held in Grenoble in 1990.

After the separation between professionals and amateurs in cycling was abolished in 1993, the European cycling association UEC was founded in 1995 and from then on took over the organization of elite European championships in various cycling disciplines. In track cycling, this initially only affected a few individual disciplines such as derny, two-man team riding and omnium, which was divided into endurance and sprint omnium. European railway championships have been held annually since 2010, which include all individual world championship disciplines apart from derny and standing races, supplemented by the elimination race .

The UEC Derny European Championship is held separately, as is usually the European Championship for the Stayer . In 2016 and 2017 , however, the title fights for the stayers were exceptionally integrated, but this is only possible if the cycling track of the event is suitable.

Elite events

Logo of the Bahn-EM 2017 in Berlin

Juniors / U23 events

literature

  • Henrik Elmgreen: The History of the European Championships. From European Criteriums on a "private" basis to official championships . In: HE Cycling Aps (ed.): EM Banecykling . Copenhagen 2006, p. 11-13 .

Web links

Commons : UEC European Rail Championships  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elmgreen, History , p. 12.
  2. ↑ Elmgreen, History , pp. 12/13.
  3. ↑ a b Elmgreen, History , p. 13.