The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Management Committee has taken a fresh series of decisions of vital importance to cycling’s development.
The 2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships have been awarded to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the United States. The decision marks the return of the biggest annual event in the discipline to a country that last held the UCI World Championships in 2013, in Louisville, Kentucky. The USA will also host UCI Telenet Cyclo-cross World Cup rounds for the third season in a row in September, underlining the discipline’s growing popularity in North America.
Meanwhile, the 2023 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships have been awarded to Hoogerheide (the Netherlands). Along with Dübendorf (Switzerland) in 2020 and Ostend (Belgium) in 2021, the next four host cities of the UCI World Championships in the discipline have now been established.
The Management Committee has also approved the 2019-2020 UCI International Cyclo-cross Calendar, which includes the Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup.
2019-2020 Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup Calendar:
14.09.2019 – Iowa City (USA)
22.09.2019 – Waterloo (USA)
22.10.2019 – Bern (SUI)
16.11.2019 – Tabor (CZE)
24.11.2019 – Koksijde (BEL)
22.12.2019 – Namur (BEL)
26.12.2019 – Heusden-Zolder (BEL)
19.01.2020 – Nommay-Pays de Montbéliard (FRA)
26.01.2020 – Hoogerheide-Provincie Noord-Brabant (NED)
The UCI has the pleasure of announcing new initiatives in support of women’s cyclo-cross, which complement the measures already announced after the Management Committee meeting in Arzon (France, in June 2018:
As of next season, National Federations may add a Women’s Junior category to their National Championships. The athletes in question will receive the same number of UCI points as their male counterparts.
As of the 2020-2021 season:
It will be possible to add Women’s Junior events to the UCI International Calendar and at Continental Championships, with the same number of UCI points being awarded as in Men’s Junior events;
Women’s Elite World Cup races (which bring together women aged 19 years and older) will now last 50 minutes (the same as Men’s U23 races).
As of the 2021-2022 season:
It will be compulsory for events on the UCI International Calendar and National Championships to include a Women’s Junior race;
races for Women aged 19 and above will now last 50 minutes, in all events.
These actions are a continuation of the progress made over these last 12 months: equal prize money paid in the Men’s and Women’s World Cup general classifications from the 2018-2019 season; introduction of the Women’s Junior category at the 2020 UCI World Championships and the UCI World Cup from 2020-2021; equal prize money paid by the organisers of every round of the World Cup for the Men’s and Women’s categories reached by 2021-2022, with gradual increases being made over a three-year period.
Regarding the registration of UCI Cyclo‐cross Teams, the UCI will require that they comprise a minimum of three riders, including at least one woman and one man to ensure their diversity.
Commenting on these decisions, UCI President David Lappartient said: “With the introduction of a new Women’s Junior category at all levels of our calendar between now and 2021-2022, we are continuing to develop cyclo-cross. We are also delighted to see the return of our Worlds to the USA in 2022, which comes as confirmation of the international expansion of cyclo-cross and points to the growing interest among organisers in a discipline that offers significant development opportunities.”
Concerning road cycling, the Management Committee approved the launch of the Event Appeal Working Group, which will run from January to September 2019. Comprising representatives from cycling’s various families (including the media and fans), the working group will engage in a wide-reaching consultation process that will lead to trials being conducted at selected events and the submission of proposals to the Management Committee for its approval at its September meeting. Changes will be introduced in January 2020.
With a view to continued improvement in the quality of safety at the UCI Women’s WorldTour, the Management Committee has decided to create the position of UCI Women’s WorldTour Technical Adviser. This person will work with the President of the Commissaires’ Panel and organisers on a range of technical aspects (course and infrastructure).
The Management Committee welcomed the renewal and expansion of the video referee in 2019. Having already been used at the three Grands Tours, the five Monuments and the UCI Road World Championships in 2018, the programme will be extended to 11 additional one-day races: the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Strade Bianche, Driedaagse Brugge de Panne, E3 BinckBank Classic, Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields, Dwars door Vlaanderen / A travers la Flandre, the Scheldeprijs, De Brabantse Pijl / Flèche Brabançonne, Amstel Gold Race, and the Flèche Wallonne.
The Management Committee also hailed the progress made in the fight against technological fraud. A total of 15,756 checks were carried out in 2018 with the aid of magnetic scanning tablets, and 647 with the assistance of X-rays.
In the same field, the study phase embarked on as part of the programme aiming to develop magnetic trackers, undertaken in collaboration with the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, has now reached its conclusion. The next phase will involve the first tests on the ground, with a view to developing a first series of prototypes.
Regarding mountain bike, it was agreed that the inaugural UCI E‐Mountain Bike World Championships, to be held in Mont‐Sainte‐Anne, Canada, will take place on 28 August 2019, during the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships presented by Mercedes‐Benz. The UCI E‐Mountain Bike World Championships will be held on a 7.3km cross‐country course and the race will last between 1h30 and 1h45. Further information will be made available shortly.
Following the announcement of the inclusion of snow bike in the UCI Regulations, three events, all organised in France, have been registered on the UCI Mountain Bike International Calendar in 2019: Châtel (7‐8 February), Vars-Hautes‐Alpes (14 March) and Isola 2000 (20‐21 April). The objective in 2020 will be to organise a UCI World Cup for the speciality, with five events to be held on several continents.
Staying off-road, attention was drawn to the success of the BMX Freestyle Park World Cup competitions and the UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Championships on a participation level. With a view to ensuring the continued harmonious development of the discipline in this very favourable context, the UCI has decided to restrict the number of participants so that these events can be completed within the scheduled timeframe, at the same time guaranteeing that the best riders take part and allowing countries to field at least one rider in each category. It is with these goals in mind that the following decisions have been made:
introduction of a minimum number of UCI points in order to have the right to participate in events at the UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Cup;
creation of a quota system for the UCI BMX Freestyle Park World Championships.
In addition to the aforementioned 2022 and 2023 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, the Management Committee also awarded the following events:
2020 UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships: Stuttgart (GER)
2021 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships: Tel Aviv (ISR)
2021 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships: Cascais (POR)
It should also be noted that the date of the 2019 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Poznan (Poland) has been modified. The event will now be organised from August 29 to September 1.
The following calendars have also been approved:
2019 Enduro World Series
2019 UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup
2019 UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup
2019 UCI Trials World Cup
2019-2020 UCI Track Cycling International Calendar
As far as athletes are concerned, the Management Committee approved the Athletes’ Rights and Responsibilities Declaration adopted by the IOC in the name of the Olympic Movement at its 133rd session in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in October 2018. The aim of this text is to increase athlete support by presenting them their rights and responsibilities in areas such as integrity, governance, non-discrimination and the protection against harassment and abuse.
“The inclusion by the UCI of the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Rights and Responsibilities Declaration is an important step forward for the protection of athletes’ physical and psychological integrity while empowering them to achieve their best during and after competitive career,” said Katerina Nash, President of the UCI Athletes’ Commission.
Speaking at the conclusion of the two-day meeting, UCI President David Lappartient said: “I’d like to thank the Management Committee for its support for a number of key initiatives, including the establishment of the event appeal working group, which is vital to the future of our sport. I am also delighted that we have awarded our World Championships to countries such as Israel and Portugal. This will allow us to further grow cycling’s audience worldwide. Finally, I am pleased that another step has been taken in the protection of athletes.”