France's Arthur Pilard leads the men's standings at the halfway point, while Colombia's two-time Olympic champion Mariana Pajón and Russia's Natalya Afremova are joint top of the women's leaderboard.

But with 600 points still up for grabs, other riders can pip them to the main honours as Sakarya prepares to stage back-to-back rounds this weekend.

Pilard leads the men's title race with 335 points after the first four rounds held in Italy and Colombia.

But the Frenchman is closely followed by fellow countrymen Romain Mathieu and Joris Daudet who are on 310 and 300 points respectively.

The top eight contains five French and two Swiss riders, but Olympic bronze medallist Carlos Ramirez, who sits in fourth position, will be determined to take the crown back to Colombia.

Pajón, who won silver at Tokyo 2020 after golds at London 2012 and Rio 2016, is level with Afremova on 410 points and both will continue to battle it out in Turkey.

Payton Ridenour of the United States arrives in fine form after claiming silver at the last weekend's Pump Track World Championships in Portuguese capital Lisbon, while compatriot Felicia Stancil and Dutch sisters Laura and Merel Smulders are expected to be in medal contention.

There are also a total of 83 entries in the men's and women's under-23 classes, making up more than half of the field of athletes in Turkey.

Action is due to start tomorrow with the first of the two rounds.