UCI Road World Championships

The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and as of 2019^[update], a mixed team relay.

UCI Road World Championships
Status	Active
Genre	Road bicycle racing
Date(s)	August–September
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	Various
Inaugurated	1921
Previous event	2023
Next event	2024
Organised by	UCI
2024 UCI Road World Championships

Events

Outfit of Jean-Pierre Monseré as world champion (1970), consisting of victory ribbon, cap, medal and rainbow jersey (collection KOERS. Museum of Cycle Racing)

All the world championship events are ridden by national teams, not trade teams such as in most other major races. The winner of each category is entitled to wear the rainbow jersey in races of that category^[1] (either mass start or time trial) until the next championships. It currently includes the following championships:

• Elite Men's road race
• Elite Men's time trial
• Under-23 Men's road race
• Under-23 Men's time trial
• Junior Men's road race
• Junior Men's time trial
• Elite Women's road race
• Elite Women's time trial
• Under-23 Women's road race
• Under-23 Women's time trial
• Junior Women's road race
• Junior Women's time trial
• Mixed team relay

Former events:

• Men's amateur road race (1921–1995)
• Men's team time trial (1962–2018)
• Women's team time trial (1987–2018)

History

The first world championships took place in 1921, though the only event that was contested was the men's road race for amateurs.^[2] The first professional world championship took place in July 1927 at the Nürburgring in Germany where Italian Alfredo Binda won the professional men's race and Belgian Jean Aerts won the men's amateur race. The women's road race was introduced in 1958.^[1] A men's team time trial, contested by national teams, was introduced in 1962. Beginning in 1972, the team time trial was discontinued in Olympic years only. Individual time trials in all categories were added in 1994, which was also the last year for the original incarnation of the men's team time trial. In 2012, the men's team time trial was reinstated, and a women's team time trial added to the program; both were contested by trade teams. In 2019, the team time trial events for men and women were replaced by a mixed relay team time trial.^[3]

Until 1995, there were separate races for male professional and amateur riders. In 1996, the amateur category was replaced with a category for men under-23 years old, with the professional category becoming an open (later elite) category.

Since 1995 until 2022, the event has been held towards the end of the European season in late September, usually following the Vuelta a España. Before that, the event had always been a summer race, held in late August or the first week of September (except for 1970, when it was a mid-season summer event). An exception to this was in 2023, when it was held in August as part of a combined multi-disciplinary UCI Cycling World Championships, intended to be held every four years.

The world championships are located in a different city or region every year. The event can be held over a relatively flat course which, in the case of the road race, favors cycling sprinters or a hilly course which favors a climbing specialist or all-rounder. In each case, the latter part of course is usually held on a circuit, of which the riders complete multiple laps.

The world championship road race and two of the three Grand Tours (namely the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France) form the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Editions

Note: Not held from 1939 to 1945 because of World War II.

Edition Year Location Host Country Events 1 1921 Copenhagen  Denmark 1 2 1922 Liverpool  Great Britain 1 3 1923 Zürich  Switzerland 1 4 1924 Paris  France 1 5 1925 Apeldoorn  Netherlands 1 6 1926 Milan  Italy 1 7 1927 Nürburgring  Germany 2 8 1928 Budapest  Hungary 2 9 1929 Zürich  Switzerland 2 10 1930 Liège  Belgium 2 11 1931 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 12 1932 Rome  Italy 2 13 1933 Montlhéry  France 2 14 1934 Leipzig  Germany 2 15 1935 Floreffe  Belgium 2 16 1936 Bern  Switzerland 2 17 1937 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 18 1938 Valkenburg  Netherlands 2 19 1946 Zürich  Switzerland 2 20 1947 Reims  France 2 21 1948 Valkenburg  Netherlands 2 22 1949 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 23 1950 Moorslede  Belgium 2 24 1951 Varese  Italy 2 25 1952 Luxembourg  Luxembourg 2 26 1953 Lugano  Switzerland 2 27 1954 Solingen  West Germany 2 28 1955 Frascati  Italy 2 29 1956 Copenhagen  Denmark 2 30 1957 Waregem  Belgium 2 31 1958 Reims  France 3 32 1959 Zandvoort  Netherlands 3 33 1960 Karl-Marx-Stadt  East Germany 3 34 1961 Bern  Switzerland 3 35 1962 Salò di Garda  Italy 4 36 1963 Ronse  Belgium 4 37 1964 Sallanches  France 4 38 1965 San Sebastián  Spain 4 39 1966 Nürburgring  West Germany 4 40 1967 Heerlen  Netherlands 4 41 1968 Imola  Italy 4 42 1969 Zolder  Belgium 4 43 1970 Leicester  Great Britain 4 44 1971 Mendrisio  Switzerland 4 45 1972 Gap  France 2 46 1973 Barcelona  Spain 4 47 1974 Montreal  Canada 4 48 1975 Yvoir  Belgium 4 49 1976 Ostuni  Italy 2 50 1977 San Cristóbal  Venezuela 4 51 1978 Nürburgring  West Germany 4 52 1979 Valkenburg  Netherlands 4

Edition Year Location Host Country Events 53 1980 Sallanches  France 2 54 1981 Prague  Czechoslovakia 4 55 1982 Chichester  Great Britain 4 56 1983 Altenrhein  Switzerland 4 57 1984 Barcelona  Spain 1 58 1985 Giavera del Montello  Italy 4 59 1986 Colorado Springs  United States 4 60 1987 Villach  Austria 5 61 1988 Ronse  Belgium 2 62 1989 Chambéry  France 5 63 1990 Utsunomiya  Japan 5 64 1991 Stuttgart  Germany 5 65 1992 Benidorm  Spain 2 66 1993 Oslo  Norway 5 67 1994 Agrigento  Italy 7 68 1995 Duitama  Colombia 5 69 1996 Lugano  Switzerland 6 70 1997 San Sebastián  Spain 10 71 1998 Valkenburg  Netherlands 10 72 1999 Verona  Italy 10 73 2000 Plouay  France 10 74 2001 Lisbon  Portugal 10 75 2002 Zolder  Belgium 10 76 2003 Hamilton  Canada 10 77 2004 Verona  Italy 10 78 2005 Madrid  Spain 6 79 2006 Salzburg  Austria 6 80 2007 Stuttgart  Germany 6 81 2008 Varese  Italy 6 82 2009 Mendrisio  Switzerland 6 83 2010 Geelong  Australia 6 84 2011 Copenhagen  Denmark 10 85 2012 Valkenburg  Netherlands 12 86 2013 Florence  Italy 12 87 2014 Ponferrada  Spain 12 88 2015 Richmond  United States 12 89 2016 Doha  Qatar 12 90 2017 Bergen  Norway 12 91 2018 Innsbruck  Austria 12 92 2019 Harrogate  Great Britain 11 93 2020 Imola [a]  Italy 4 94 2021 Flanders  Belgium 11 95 2022 Wollongong  Australia 11[b] 96 2023 Glasgow [c]  Great Britain 11[d] 97 2024 Zurich [e]  Switzerland 11[f] 98 2025 Kigali  Rwanda 13 99 2026 Montreal  Canada 13 100 2027 Haute-Savoie [g]  France 13 101 2028 Abu Dhabi  United Arab Emirates 13 102 2029 Copenhagen  Denmark 13 103 2030 Brussels  Belgium 13

Hosts

Updated after 2024 UCI Road World Championships.

Times	Nations
14	Italy
11	Switzerland
10	Belgium
9	France
8	Germany -  Netherlands
7	Spain
6	Denmark
5	Great Britain
3	Austria
2	Australia -  Canada -  Norway -  United States
1	Colombia -  Czechoslovakia -  Hungary -  Japan -  Luxembourg -  Portugal -  Qatar -  Venezuela

All medals

Updated after 2024 UCI Road World Championships.

Medal table includes only medals achieved in senior events. Mixed nation team events such as the Team Time Trial from 2012 to 2018 are excluded.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Italy	54	49	44	147
2	Belgium	41	33	31	105
3	Netherlands	39	34	29	102
4	France	34	32	30	96
5	Switzerland	17	24	21	62
6	United States	15	14	13	42
7	Germany	14	17	21	52
8	Great Britain	13	11	13	37
9	Soviet Union	12	16	16	44
10	East Germany	10	2	4	16
11	Spain	9	13	16	38
12	Sweden	9	5	7	21
13	Denmark	7	11	11	29
14	Poland	7	7	4	18
15	Australia	6	14	8	28
16	West Germany	4	4	5	13
17	Russia	4	4	4	12
18	Lithuania	3	3	5	11
19	Norway	3	2	4	9
20	Slovakia	3	1	0	4
21	Colombia	2	1	2	5
22	Belarus	2	0	1	3
23	Luxembourg	1	3	4	8
24	New Zealand	1	2	2	5
25	Ukraine	1	2	1	4
26	Ireland	1	1	3	5
27	Slovenia	1	1	2	4
28	Latvia	1	1	0	2
29	Portugal	1	0	0	1
30	Canada	0	3	3	6
31	Czechoslovakia	0	2	2	4
32	Austria	0	1	3	4
33	Hungary	0	1	1	2
34	Brazil	0	1	0	1
35	Kazakhstan	0	0	2	2
36	Czech Republic	0	0	1	1
	Finland	0	0	1	1
	Uruguay	0	0	1	1
Totals (38 entries)		315	315	315	945

Countries

• Belgium
• Denmark
• Germany
• Italy
• Lithuania
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Spain
• United States

See also

• UCI World Championships
• European Road Championships
• Triple Crown of Cycling

Notes

1. Originally planned to be held in the Aigle and Martigny area in Switzerland, however this was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2. 13 titles were given out in the course of the 11 events, as women in the U23 age category participated in the elite events
3. Held in conjunction with the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships
4. 13 titles were given out in the course of the 11 events, as women in the U23 age category participated in the elite events
5. Held alongside the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships
6. 13 titles were given out in the course of the 11 events, as women in the U23 age category participated in the elite events
7. To be held in conjunction with the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships

References

1. Mikkelsen, Sebastian (7 August 2023). "Cycling: Full list of men's and women's road race world champions". Olympics.com. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
2. "Road Cycling: World Championships: Men: Road Race for Amateurs". Sports 123. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
3. Cotton, Jim (2021-09-21). "Mixed relay team time trial explainer: What is it, how does it work, why should we care?". Velo. Retrieved 2023-07-31.