Along with Sir Chris Hoy, Kristina Vogel is an 11-time UCI World Champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist who brings decades of experience to her role as an official UCI Track Champions League ambassador, not just in helping to conceive and progress the series, but in playing an integral role in the TV coverage of each round.
In this article, we speak to Kristina about her love of track cycling, and what her role as an ambassador entails.
How did you first get involved in the UCI Track Champions League?
I’ve been involved from the very beginning. When Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and the UCI first conceived the idea of the series, I got a call asking if I wanted to be an ambassador along with Sir Chris Hoy, and of course, I said yes. We were brought on to give our thoughts and opinions on the race programme, what might work well, and what the riders might need from each event.
What benefits do you think the UCI Track Champions League’s intense, quickfire race format brings?
I really love the format, so I’m kind of jealous that I’m not competing any more! The punchy three hours of racing is great for the audience because it’s bam-bam-bam, win win win. You can also see the riders are really engaged with the competition and they’re motivated to race full gas. They’re trying out new tactics and figuring out what might work in other major tournaments.
What do you think of the intense schedule, with all five rounds taking place in the space of four weeks?
The problem with track cycling is that the major events are spread out throughout the entire year and that often means there are big gaps between them If you’re a fan and you’re tuning in, and you see a rider you like, it’s hard to follow their progress consistently throughout the season, and that makes it easy to lose interest. So for our audience, tuning into the UCI Track Champions League week after week, enables people to immerse themselves in the drama and fall in love with the sport.
The weekly racing can be hard for the riders, but it’s something they get used to, and we’ve seen they are excited to qualify for the series and get involved in the racing. It’s a win-win for everyone.
What does a typical race weekend look like for you in your role as an ambassador?
I arrive the night before in time to do my commercial responsibilities; record a few interviews and some clips that can be broadcast between the races. Then, while the rounds are going on, I follow the competition, of course, and try to catch some of the athletes for interviews between races, as well as doing some analysis with Orla Chennaoui and Sir Chris . Then, later, I do the post-race interviews. So it’s a very busy night for us on TV! A lot of speaking to do, a lot of counting, there’s a lot to keep track of – it’s very stressful and full-on, but I really enjoy it.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
My heart still yearns for track cycling, so it’s always so good to see the athletes competing, old friends and teammates, and to see athletes growing between competitions, round by round, or even lap by lap. Some of these riders were maybe in someone’s shadow on their national team, but in the UCI Track Champions League, they’re jumping out and becoming rising stars in their own right.
What are your highlights from the first two seasons?
That’s hard because there have been so many! I really loved the rivalry between Harrie Lavreysen and Matthew Richardson last season. It was mind blowing – so cool to see them fighting together, testing new tactics, and playing tricks on each other – it wasn’t all just about speed as it so often is at the highest level – and then Richardson winning the Men’s Sprint League by just two points in the end… It made me really happy to be there in the track cycling family.
I also loved cheering for Jennifer Valente in the Women’s Endurance. Of course, she’s incredibly fast, but it was wonderful to see her grow in confidence over each round, especially in the interviews. She was a little shy at the start, but over time she felt more and more comfortable in front of the camera.
In a similar way, it was great to see Mathilde Gros winning because for a long time she was always second or third, with a lot of bad luck. But the UCI Track World Championships in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines was the first time she won a major event – she finally realised she could do it. Then to see her in the leader’s jersey last season, it was good to see she had some belief in herself.
What are you excited about for future seasons of the UCI Track Champions League?
It’s important to remember that we’re still growing the series. This year will only be the third season so we’re still trying to get better and better and better. But one thing I’m really looking forward to is watching the development of the UCI Track Champions League Metaverse. I think that will be a huge step that hasn’t been seen anywhere before.
