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22-10-2011 Apeldoorn is the cycling capital of the world With a loud bang from the starting pistol, acting mayor Rob Metz of Apeldoorn opened the European Championships Track Cycling in Omnisport, Apeldoorn. ‘After organizing the Worlds in March, the European Championships now and the nationals in December I can say that Apeldoorn is the cycling capital of the world.’

Metz said that he hoped that the European title races which take place from today to Sunday will be just as successful as the Worlds were six months ago. The visitors rated that event with an eight out of ten in a survey. ‘That’s a result to be proud of,’ Metz said. ‘Just as proud as we are of Omnisport which is a great venue which will hopefully host more sporting events of international stature.’

During the opening ceremony, the acting mayor was joined by three former cycling champions. René Pijnen won seven European titles of which six were obtained on the Madison. ‘In those days the races were a bit different than they are now. When I started, Madison races were 100 kilometres long. It became 75 kilometers later but that is still 25 more than nowadays,’ Pijnen said. The Dutchman is also Olympic Champion on the team time trial and won 72 six-day events.

Roger De Vlaeminck especially came over from Belgium for the opening ceremony. The 64-year old former pro rider is mostly known as Mr. Paris-Roubaix (he won the classic four times) but he was also a good track cyclist winning three six-day events.

Herman Ponsteen was the third special guest yesterday night. The 13-times national track champion was a star in the pursuit. He won the silver medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He added a bronze medal at the Worlds in 1979 beating De Vlaeminck in the preliminaries. ‘Oh, I remember that, I let you win,’ De Vlaeminck joked.

There has been a change in the schedule for Saturday. The races will start an hour later. The first race now takes place at 11.30am instead of 10.30am. Omnisport will open an hour later too; at 10am instead of 9am.

There are still tickets available at the local tourist offices in Apeldoorn and Primera stores nationwide. Tickets can also be purchased through the website http://www.ectrackcycling.com or at Omnisport, Apeldoorn.