The Velodrome Suisse is an indoor

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

in Grenchen, Switzerland. The hall covers an area of 8000 square meters and has a capacity for 1800 spectators. The velodrome itself is meters long, made of

Siberian spruce ''Picea obovata'', the Siberian spruce, is a spruce native to Siberia, from the Ural Mountains east to Magadan Oblast, and from the Arctic tree line south to the Altay Mountains in northwestern Mongolia. It is a medium-sized evergreen tree grow ...

wood and is applied according to the UCI standards. The banked curve is 46% steep and includes a vertical drop of 7 meters. The velodrome primary serves as a training center for the Swiss team and for the junior selection, but the track is also available to recreational cyclists. The interior consists of three different surfaces, which can also be used for other sports, fairs and concerts but also for cultural and economic events. In addition, the Velodrome Suisse houses a gym, a training center with medical and physio practice, the BMC Concept Store, Restaurant and Catering, and 30 hotel beds. The

Swiss Cycling Swiss Cycling is the national governing body of cycle racing in Switzerland. The organisation is a member of the UCI and the UEC. External links Swiss Cycling official website National members of the European Cycling Union Cycling Cycle ...

Federation also uses a portion of the office space as headquarters. The Velodrome is located between two stadiums for football and athletics, directly opposite the headquarters of the initiator, the Swiss entrepreneur Andy Rihs, owner of the bicycle brand BMC. Velodrome Suisse Innenansicht

The CHF 17 million project was financed from both public and private donations. The Velodrome Suisse is the second modern indoor velodrome in Switzerland, after the

World Cycling Centre The World Cycling Centre (WCC, ) is a coaching and training centre in Aigle, Switzerland. It contains a indoor velodrome, a BMX racing track and other non-cycling facilities. It was built in 2002 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Union Cy ...

of the

Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...

Aigle Aigle ( French for "eagle", ; ) is a historic town and a municipality and the capital of the district of Aigle in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The official language of Aigle is Swiss French. Geography Aigle lies at an elevation of a ...

. The hall was built according to the Minergie standard and built by a foundation set up specifically for this purpose, whose chairman is Rihs who dedicated himself two million francs. In 2013 the second stage of the

2013 Tour de Romandie The 2013 Tour de Romandie was the 67th running of the Tour de Romandie cycling stage race. The race consisted of six stages, beginning with a prologue stage in Le Châble on 23 April and concluded with another individual time trial, in Geneva, on 2 ...

finished on the Velodrome Suisse, and in January 2014, a six-day race was held. On 23 June, the Velodrome was officially opened with an "open day". On 18 September 2014

Jens Voigt Jens Voigt (; born 17 September 1971) is a German former professional road bicycle racer and, upon retirement, became a cycling sports broadcast commentator. During his cycling career, Voigt raced for several teams, the last one being UCI ProTe ...

rode at the velodrome a new

hour record The hour record is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Cyclists attempt this record alone on the track without other competitors present. It is considered one of the most prestigious record ...

with a distance of 51.115 km. On 8 February 2015 the Australian

Rohan Dennis Rohan Craig Dennis (born 28 May 1990) is an Australian former cyclist, who competed professionally in the track cycling, track and road bicycle racing, road disciplines of the sport for five different teams. Having been a member of the Australi ...

beat the

Matthias Brändle Matthias Brändle (born 7 December 1989) is an Austrian professional road bicycle racer. Brändle is a seven-time winner of the Austrian National Time Trial Championships (2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021), and also won the Austrian ...

, who had broken it in the meantime, with a distance of 52.491 km. On 19 August 2022,

Daniel Bigham Daniel John Bigham (born 2 October 1991) is a British aerodynamics engineer and former racing cyclist, who has predominantly competed successfully in individual and team endurance track events, winning gold medals at national, European and world ...

broke the

at the velodrome with a distance of 55.548 km. Joss Lowden set the women's world

48.405 km on 30 September 2021.

Ellen van Dijk Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (; born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . Besides road cycling she was also a track cycling, tr ...

improved this to 49.254 km on 23 May 2022. From 14 to 18 October 2015, the

UEC European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC ...

were held at the velodrome.

References

External links

* Sports venues in the Canton of Solothurn Velodromes in Switzerland {{cycling-venue-stub

See also

References

External links