News The Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games has announced that the track cycling test event scheduled for 30 April-1 May will be replaced by a training opportunity on 25-27 June The decision was taken by Rio 2016 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the support of the International Cycling Union (UCI) due to delays in the installation of support structures for the building of the track “We had some logistical problems, such as unloading the wood into the venue and installing containers and offices, and we realised that it was too close for us to make sure that the track was perfectly installed”, said Rio 2016 executive director of communications, Mario Andrada The structure of the venue is fully ready, with the first equipment, such as the air conditioning systems, already installed The City Government handed the venue over to the organising committee on 29 February for the assembly of the track  “It’s always better to be safe than sorry In this case, putting down the track in a hurry could cause a risk to the athletes, so we took the tough decision We are 120% confident that it will be ready for the Olympics”Mario Andrada, Rio 2016 executive director of communications Expert Ralph Schurmann is leading the team responsible for assembling the wooden track “He already has seven Olympic Games and over 20 world championship tracks under his belt The wood originally comes from Siberia and one of its main qualities is that it can be bent without breaking or splintering,” said Andrada While it is fully expected that the track will be in place by the end of April, the Rio Olympic Velodrome will now be fully delivered by 31 May 2016 “After we put the track together, the internal parts will be painted, all the offices, all the details will be installed The venue will be Games-ready by 31 May” The Olympic track cycling competition takes place from 11-16 August 2016 and is followed by the Paralympic competition from 8-11 September