Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling’s Jolien D’hoore has reacted with “super-excitement” to the news that the Madison event has been added to the Track Cycling programme for the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. The Belgian became the first-ever women’s World Champion in the Madison in Hong Kong, in April, along with compatriot Lotte Kopecky.

The news was announced on Friday afternoon by the Union Cycliste International (UCI) that the event, that last featured in the Olympics in Beijing 2008 - for men only - would return for both sexes, along with Freestyle BMX.

“I’m super-excited!” D’hoore exclaimed. “I just got in the hotel and I’ve got about a thousand messages from everybody in Belgium, and also Lotte Kopecky. We’re so happy that it’s Olympic!

“We had a feeling that it would become Olympic, but you’re never sure,” she added. “And we thought the news would come out in October, but it’s a bit early now. We’re so happy about it, and now we have a new goal.”

D’hoore competed in both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the Omnium, winning the Bronze Medal in Rio. With her pedigree in the two-rider event, however - where riders take turns to race before hand-slinging their partner into the action - means that this, as well as the road will be her new focus.

“I’m not going for the Omnium any more, my priority is the road in combination with the Madison,” D’hoore confirmed. “It’s a bit less trackie than in previous years, but I’m still going for the Madison on the track.”

For many new fans of cycling, the Madison can be a confusing event, with one rider from each team riding slowly around the top of the track with the frenetic action of the race happening just below them. D’hoore however, has what she sees as a failsafe way of knowing what is happening in the race.

“Just look at the Belgians, and then you know who’s leading!” she laughed. “No, no, just joking…

“It’s difficult. I don’t know.”

For the riders also, the Madison event is more complicated than all the other track races, but this is one of the big things that the World Champion loves about it.

“It’s so technical. You can’t race it like the Points Race,” D’hoore explained. “You've got to think about when you’re going to swing your mate into the race, and you have to think about how fast you’re riding when you’re out of the race. It has so many points to think about, and that’s why I like it. It’s not only riding your bike; you also have to use your head.

“It’s a great event, and it’s so good for Track Cycling that it’s become Olympic again, and I’m really looking forward to it.

“It’s like art,” she added. “I just love it. We Belgians are just born with it I guess. I’ve been doing Madisons since I was 12 years old on the track. We just love it, and that’s one of the things we can do. The British can do a Team Pursuit, and we can do a Madison!"

The Madison has been a fixture in elite men’s cycling for more than a century. It has been a World Championship event since 1995, and was in the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008; it was lost to the Olympic programme ahead of London 2012, along with the Individual Pursuit, as men’s and women’s racing were given medal parity with five events each.

It has only been in recent years that it has been available as an event for elite women, however, becoming part of the World Championships only this year. Its return to the Olympic programme, for both men and women this time, is an indication of how women’s cycling is growing, and will be a catalyst for even more growth, D’hoore thinks.

“I think Track Cycling for women will now become bigger and bigger with the Madison,” D’hoore smiled. “I think a lot of road riders will come to the track now for the Madison because I think it’s a perfect combination to do road and track now. So yeah, it’s getting bigger and bigger and that’s good for us.”

Photo Credit: Union Cycliste International (UCI)