Track cycling: the events and how each is won.

The events

Part 3 (version applying 1 January 2026) lists these specialities: the 200 m time trial, sprint, individual pursuit, team pursuit, kilometre time trial, points race, keirin, team sprint, Madison, scratch race, tandem, motor-pacing, elimination race, six-day race, omnium, flying lap and tempo race. Cycling Canada groups track events into two families, sprint events and endurance events, which is how this page is arranged.

Sprint events

Sprint

A race between 2 to 4 riders over 2 or 3 laps (article 3.2.029). A sprint competition must at least include 8 riders, a 200 m flying-start time trial, single-ride quarter-finals, best-of-three semi-finals, and best-of-three finals for 3rd and 4th and for 1st and 2nd.

200 m time trial

Ridden with a flying start from the 200 m line, and used to seed and select riders for the sprint.

Keirin

Riders complete laps behind a motorised pacer, which leaves the track with 3 laps to go on a 250 m track (on other tracks, as close as possible to 750 m from the finish); then they sprint. The laps after the pacer leaves equal the laps behind it (article 3.2.134). A keirin competition must at least include 10 riders, a qualifying round of two heats of five, a final for places 7 to 10 and a final for places 1 to 6 (article 3.2.135).

Team sprint

Two teams of three riders against each other over three laps, each rider leading for one lap; qualifying rounds are ridden against the clock (article 3.2.144, text modified 12 June 2020).

Kilometre time trial

An individual time trial from a standing start. At World Cup and World Championship level it is 1,000 m for both men and women (text modified 1 January 2025).

Flying lap

A race against the clock with a flying start from the finish line (article 3.2.258).

Tandem

A sprint competition for tandems, run under the sprint rules with stated exceptions; each pair counts as one participant (article 3.2.184).

Team sprint: two or three riders?

A magazine guide from Cycling Weekly, read only as a search summary, describes the women's team sprint as a race for pairs. The UCI rule as modified on 12 June 2020 sets teams of three for the event and makes no distinction between men and women. We follow the UCI rule.

Pursuit events

In the individual pursuit two riders start on opposite sides of the track over a fixed distance, and the winner either catches the other rider or records the faster time (article 3.2.051). The team pursuit works the same way for teams of four over 4 km.

Since 1 January 2025, then, elite women ride the same individual pursuit distance as elite men, and women ride 1,000 m in the kilometre at World Cup and World Championship level. Older guides that give different women's distances describe the earlier rule. We did not read an earlier edition of Part 3, so we cannot confirm here what the previous women's distances were.

Endurance (bunch) events

Points race

Placings come from points won in sprints and by taking laps (article 3.2.114). Sprints come every 10 laps on tracks shorter than 333.33 m and every 5 laps on longer tracks, paying 5, 3, 2 and 1 points, doubled at the final sprint. A rider who gains a lap on the main field scores 20 points and one who loses a lap is penalised 20 (articles 3.2.118 and 3.2.119). Distances are set in a table by track length and category, for example 30 km for elite men and 20 km for elite women in finals on 200 m and 400 m tracks. The row for 250 m tracks did not come through cleanly in our copy, so we do not give it.

Madison

A race for teams of two, placed by points won in sprints and by taking laps.

Scratch race

An individual race over a set distance, 10 km for elite men and women (article 3.2.173).

Elimination race

An individual race in which the last rider at each intermediate sprint is eliminated (article 3.2.218).

Tempo race

10 km for elite men and women and 7.5 km for juniors. After the first 4 laps a sprint is held every lap, and the first rider in each scores 1 point. Gaining a lap earns 20 points and losing one costs 20.

Omnium

Four races on one day, in this order: scratch race (10 km for elites), tempo race (10 km for elites), elimination race and points race (25 km for elite men, 20 km for elite women) (article 3.2.247, text modified 1 January 2025).

Motor-pacing and six-day racing

In motor-pacing each rider rides behind a pacer on a motorcycle. A six-day race is a team race for teams of 2 or 3 riders.

The track bike

The UCI's equipment rules, as reproduced in the JCF copy of the clarification guide, set track bikes apart. Article 1.3.025 allows no freewheel, no multiple gears and no brakes on the track, in competition or in training; the transmission is one chain, one chainring and one sprocket. A front disc wheel is allowed only in events against the clock, and in the sprint only for the 200 m qualifying ride, not the matches (article 1.3.018). A fixed time trial extension may be used in the individual pursuit, team pursuit and kilometre (article 1.3.023), and time trial helmets are permitted in those three events and the team sprint (article 1.3.031).

New track handlebar limits start on 1 January 2027: the UCI Management Committee in September 2025 set a 350 mm minimum overall width, an 80 mm maximum flare and a 65 mm maximum cross-section. The road and cyclo-cross versions started a year earlier; the 2026 changes page compares them. The same meeting also set maximum price limits on track framesets, forks, wheels, handlebars, helmets and skinsuits for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle, from 1 January 2027; this site does not quote the amounts, and the UCI equipment rules page treats the rule the same way.

Olympic and championship track racing

The UCI says track cycling at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will have six events, the team sprint, sprint, keirin, team pursuit, omnium and Madison, with a quota of 190 athletes. The UCI Congress of September 2025 awarded the 2028 Track World Championships to Asuncion, Paraguay. Para-cycling track events are covered on the para-cycling page.