Kuipke or Citadel Park Velodrome 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 ...

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

, Belgium. It opened in 1927 and was rebuilt after a fire in 1965. It is best known from the

Six Days of Ghent The Six Days of Ghent ( nl, Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Gent) is a six-day track cycling race held annually in Ghent, Belgium. It takes place in the Kuipke velodrome in Ghent's ''Citadelpark''. The 2006 event from 21 November to 26 November was marred ...

, held annually in November. The velodrome is also used as an event hall for concerts and occasional basketball games. On 21 March 1959 Louis Armstrong performed in the Kuipke, and in 2014, it was the location for the live shows of the Flemish version of

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

History

The first velodrome in in Ghent was built in 1927 to accommodate the Six Days on a fixed location in the city center. The building previously served as a greenhouse and was renamed ''Sportpaleis Gent''. Because of its short track and unusually steep gradient, it was nicknamed ''"Kuipke" (English: Little Tub)''. On 12 November 1962 the building was destroyed by fire, after which a second velodrome was opened on the same location in 1965. The new cycling track kept its original size of 167 m and steep bankings, and was officially renamed "Kuipke". During the Six Days of Ghent in November 2006, Spanish cyclist Isaac Gálvez died after colliding with

Dimitri De Fauw Dimitri De Fauw (13 July 1981 – 6 November 2009) was a Belgian professional road and track bicycle racer. He was born in Ghent. De Fauw competed on both the road and track but is best known for his crash during the 2006 Six Days of Ghent. ...

and subsequently crashing in the balustrades.

References

Velodromes in Belgium Sports venues in East Flanders Sport in Ghent Buildings and structures in Ghent {{Belgium-sports-venue-stub