Sir Dave Brailsford provided a "massive boost" to upcoming Derby Revolution event

Sir Dave Brailsford's personal and financial backing for the upcoming Revolution Series event at Derby's new velodrome, helped make the city's first major cycling event a reality, say organisers.

Sir Dave proposed hosting the event, taking place 14-16 August, at Derby's brand new state-of-the-art velodrome, to test out the venue while helping teams score UCI points for the Track Cycling World Cup in and the Rio Olympics 2016. Brailsford also made a personal investment to bridge a funding gap for the event.

The Derby Arena opened its doors in March. This will be the first major cycling event to take place in Derby and will feature a full-strength British squad and competitors from 17 nations.

- Dame Sarah Storey opens Derby's New £28m Velodrome

Sir Dave said: “The British Cycling coaches needed an event to score some UCI qualification points ahead of the World Cup season so I proposed hosting it in Derby to make use of the excellent new facility there.”

“There was a funding gap so I wanted to step in and help create the event, which will be a crucial platform for several of our top athletes to bid for their place on the track in Rio.”

Sir Dave, who was born in Shardlow, five miles from the Arena, and now lives locally, said: “I gave my backing to the development of the velodrome in Derby and attended the launch event earlier this year so was keen to see a major cycling event hosted here to showcase this fantastic facility.”

Tickets are still available for the event, which will see crowd favourites Sir Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Ed Clancy racing, as well as Olympic gold medallists Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell, and Katie Archibald who was the highest-placed Brit in the recent Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix.

Racing starts on Friday at 7pm and finishes at Sunday 4.30pm, with two sessions on Saturday. Events include the Elite Individual Pursuit, Madison, Team Pursuit, Time Trial and Scratch races.

James Pope, CEO of Face Partnership, who are organising the event said: “The Derby event is a very important milestone in British Cycling's preparations for the Olympic Games in 2016 and has been designed to provide a crucial opportunity for riders to score qualification points ahead of the UCI deadline on 15th September.”

“Getting the support from Sir Dave has been a massive boost in helping us organise an event of this scale and his backing will ensure we can stage a world class event that achieves the performance objectives for British Cycling.”