Early this year, an extensive consultation was organised to review the track cycling discipline with a focus on the UCI Track Cycling World Cup and Track Cycling World Championships.

Under the direction of the UCI Track Commission, a sub-committee of diverse experts was created to make recommendations which led to the regulation changes agreed today, making for "more spectator-friendly racing" and bringing "perfect parity between the men’s and the women’s events".

The previously rumoured changes were confirmed following a meeting of the UCI Management Committee at the Road World Championships in Doha. 

A women’s madison event will be added to the programme for the UCI Track World Championships, while the omnium will be shortened from six to four events with the individual pursuit, flying lap, and 500 metres and 1,000m time trial rounds all removed.

The four events making up the omnium are all bunch races with the existing scratch, elimination and points events being joined by a new mass-start round - the tempo race.

The omnium will also take place all on one day, rather than over two days as is currently the case. 

The individual sprint tournaments have been altered to give more riders the opportunity to participate - 28 as oppose to 24 - and allow for a slightly shorter tournament with the four athletes clocking the best qualifying times skipping the last-16 and going straight to the quarter-finals.

To shorten the sessions, the kilometre, 500m time trials, and team pursuit qualifying heats will see two athletes or teams ride simultaneously on the track during qualifications.

There will be no more finals for fifth and sixth places and seventh and eighth places.

A first round has also been added to the team sprint to bring it in line with the format of the Olympic Games, while rules on disqualification and false start have been clarified as well.

Following the controversy in the keirin at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where riders were twice stopped in the men's final, the rules about overtaking the pacer have been made clearer.

The sprint distance will be increased to three laps in a bid to make the race more tactical.

Additionally, the madison rule for a gained lap has been amended to be the same as in the points race, with 20 points on the line for lapping the field and points awarded every 10 laps.

Points awarded in the final sprint have been doubled in both the madison and points race in order to keep the race in play until the final sprint.

A new format for the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup was also approved by the UCI Management Committee.

It is claimed the event will be easier for fans to understand with direct elimination in the first round and no more time trials.

Extensive minimum standards for BMX tracks and associated facilities have been added to the UCI BMX regulations in an effort to improve the consistency of riders' experience and safety between events.

Changes have also been agreed for the downhill events of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in an attempt to better protect the integrity of the course and therefore improve the quality of competition.

It has been agreed to reduce the number of riders by increasing the number of points required to participate from 30 to 40, as well as to reduce the number of riders participating in the final and to have a separate downhill mountain biking junior women’s event.

"While it is important that we safeguard the essence of our cycling disciplines, we also need to be brave and embrace change in order to give our sport real meaning to those who are watching live or on screens across the world," said UCI President Brian Cookson.

"The changes announced today show that we are moving with the times to ensure that our disciplines are presented in the most compelling way possible, and are rooted in the desire to attract and inspire even more fans into cycling."