Lee Valley VeloPark

Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, England.

It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and it was opened to the public in March 2014.

The park would include a velodrome seating 1,500, which could be increased to 6,000 if London's bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were successful.

[11] The decrease in the size of the site led to users of the Eastway cycle circuit to protest to the Mayor of London.

[18] The velodrome was officially opened by many successful British athletes including Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.

[1][24] The first competition on the venue was the test event for the Olympic Games, a round of the 2011 UCI Supercross BMX World Cup series.

[25] The track also features an 8-metre high starting ramp and was designed by the UCI with the aim of pushing the boundaries of the sport.

Team GB dominated the track cycling competition winning seven out of a possible ten gold medals plus one silver and one bronze.

[28] The GB Paralympic track cycling team won a total of 15 medals, comprising five golds, seven silver and three bronze.

[32] In August 2011 it was announced that the road race course will be rerouted to allow more space and parkland after suggestions from Sport England and British Cycling.

[34] Team manager of British Cycling, David Brailsford has stated that the new indoor National BMX Arena in Manchester and the undulating terrain of North West England, ideal for practising road race cycling, offer a distinct advantage over London.

[35] An agreement was struck in 2012 to bring track cycling to the London Velodrome post-2012 Olympics, with events such as Revolution series which have proved popular in Manchester.

[38] Since opening for the public in March 2014, Lee Valley VeloPark has staged a number of major international events.

This was followed by the opening round of the 2014–15 Revolution Series in October 2014 and in December 2014, the UCI Track Cycling World Cup took place at Lee Valley VeloPark.

[39][40][41][42] On 7 June 2015, Sir Bradley Wiggins broke the UCI Hour record at the Velodrome, setting a distance of 54.526 km (33.881 miles).

The BMX Track during the 2012 Summer Olympics
Bradley Wiggins during his successful Hour record attempt at the Velodrome