UCI Road World Championships

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

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, a mixed team relay.

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 (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
• 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. 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. 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.

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.

From 1995 until 2022, the event was 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).

From 2023, every fourth year the event will held as part of the combined multi-disciplinary UCI Cycling World Championships, the inaugural edition of which will be held in August.

The world championships are located in a different city or region every year. The event can be held over a relatively flat course which favors cycling sprinters or a hilly course which favors a climbing specialist or all-rounder. In each case, the 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 Host City Host Country Events 1 1921 Copenhagen Dänemark 1 2 1922 Liverpool Great Britain 1 3 1923 Zürich Schweiz 1 4 1924 Paris Frankreich 1 5 1925 Apeldoorn Niederlande 1 6 1926 Milan Italien 1 7 1927 Nürburgring Deutschland 2 8 1928 Budapest Ungarn 2 9 1929 Zürich Schweiz 2 10 1930 Liège Belgien 2 11 1931 Copenhagen Dänemark 2 12 1932 Rome Italien 2 13 1933 Montlhéry Frankreich 2 14 1934 Leipzig Deutschland 2 15 1935 Floreffe Belgien 2 16 1936 Bern Schweiz 2 17 1937 Copenhagen Dänemark 2 18 1938 Valkenburg Niederlande 2 19 1946 Zürich Schweiz 2 20 1947 Reims Frankreich 2 21 1948 Valkenburg Niederlande 2 22 1949 Copenhagen Dänemark 2 23 1950 Moorslede Belgien 2 24 1951 Varese Italien 2 25 1952 Luxemburg Luxemburg 2 26 1953 Lugano Schweiz 2 27 1954 Solingen West Germany 2 28 1955 Frascati Italien 2 29 1956 Copenhagen Dänemark 2 30 1957 Waregem Belgien 2 31 1958 Reims Frankreich 3 32 1959 Zandvoort Niederlande 3 33 1960 Karl-Marx-Stadt East Germany 3 34 1961 Bern Schweiz 3 35 1962 Salò di Garda Italien 4 36 1963 Ronse Belgien 4 37 1964 Sallanches Frankreich 4 38 1965 San Sebastián Spanien 4 39 1966 Nürburgring West Germany 4 40 1967 Heerlen Niederlande 4 41 1968 Imola Italien 4 42 1969 Zolder Belgien 4 43 1970 Leicester Great Britain 4 44 1971 Mendrisio Schweiz 4 45 1972 Gap Frankreich 2 46 1973 Barcelona Spanien 4 47 1974 Montreal Kanada 4 48 1975 Yvoir Belgien 4 49 1976 Ostuni Italien 2 50 1977 San Cristóbal Venezuela 4 51 1978 Nürburgring West Germany 4

Edition Year Host City Host Country Events 52 1979 Valkenburg Niederlande 4 53 1980 Sallanches Frankreich 2 54 1981 Prague Czechoslovakia 4 55 1982 Chichester Great Britain 4 56 1983 Altenrhein Schweiz 4 57 1984 Barcelona Spanien 1 58 1985 Giavera del Montello Italien 4 59 1986 Colorado Springs Vereinigte Staaten 4 60 1987 Villach Österreich 5 61 1988 Ronse Belgien 2 62 1989 Chambéry Frankreich 5 63 1990 Utsunomiya Japan 5 64 1991 Stuttgart Deutschland 5 65 1992 Benidorm Spanien 2 66 1993 Oslo Norwegen 5 67 1994 Agrigento Italien 7 68 1995 Duitama Kolumbien 5 69 1996 Lugano Schweiz 6 70 1997 San Sebastián Spanien 10 71 1998 Valkenburg Niederlande 10 72 1999 Verona Italien 10 73 2000 Plouay Frankreich 10 74 2001 Lisbon Portugal 10 75 2002 Zolder Belgien 10 76 2003 Hamilton Kanada 10 77 2004 Verona Italien 10 78 2005 Madrid Spanien 6 79 2006 Salzburg Österreich 6 80 2007 Stuttgart Deutschland 6 81 2008 Varese Italien 6 82 2009 Mendrisio Schweiz 6 83 2010 Geelong Australien 6 84 2011 Copenhagen Dänemark 10 85 2012 Valkenburg Niederlande 12 86 2013 Florence Italien 12 87 2014 Ponferrada Spanien 12 88 2015 Richmond Vereinigte Staaten 12 89 2016 Doha Katar 12 90 2017 Bergen Norwegen 12 91 2018 Innsbruck Österreich 12 92 2019 Harrogate Great Britain 11 93 2020 Imola Italien 4 94 2021 Flanders Belgien 11 95 2022 Wollongong Australien 11 96 2023 Glasgow Great Britain 11 97 2024 Zürich Schweiz 11 98 2025 Kigali Ruanda 11 99 2026 Montreal Kanada 11 100 2027 Haute-Savoie Frankreich 11 101 2028 Abu Dhabi Vereinigte Arabische Emirate 11

Hosts

Updated after 2023 UCI Road World Championships.

Times	Nations
14	Italien
10	Belgien - Schweiz
9	Frankreich
8	Deutschland - Niederlande
7	Spanien
6	Dänemark
5	Great Britain
3	Österreich
2	Australien - Kanada - Norwegen - Vereinigte Staaten
1	Kolumbien - Czechoslovakia - Ungarn - Japan - Luxemburg - Portugal - Katar - Venezuela

All medals

Updated after 2022 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	Italien	54	48	44	146
2	Belgien	39	32	31	102
3	Niederlande	38	33	28	99
4	Frankreich	34	31	30	95
5	Schweiz	16	24	21	61
6	Deutschland	14	17	20	51
7	Vereinigte Staaten	14	14	13	41
8	Great Britain	13	11	12	36
9	Soviet Union	12	16	16	44
10	East Germany	10	2	4	16
11	Spanien	9	13	16	38
12	Schweden	9	5	7	21
13	Dänemark	7	11	10	28
14	Polen	7	7	4	18
15	Australien	6	12	8	26
16	West Germany	4	4	5	13
17	Russland	4	4	4	12
18	Litauen	3	3	5	11
19	Norwegen	3	2	4	9
20	Slowakei	3	1	0	4
21	Kolumbien	2	1	2	5
22	Weißrussland	2	0	1	3
23	Luxemburg	1	3	4	8
24	Neuseeland	1	2	2	5
25	Ukraine	1	2	1	4
26	Irland	1	1	3	5
27	Lettland	1	1	0	2
28	Portugal	1	0	0	1
29	Kanada	0	3	3	6
30	Czechoslovakia	0	2	2	4
31	Österreich	0	1	2	3
32	Ungarn	0	1	1	2
	Slowenien	0	1	1	2
34	Brasilien	0	1	0	1
35	Kasachstan	0	0	2	2
36	Tschechische Republik	0	0	1	1
	Finnland	0	0	1	1
	Uruguay	0	0	1	1
Totals (38 entries)		309	309	309	927

Countries

• Belgien
• Dänemark
• Deutschland
• Italien
• Litauen
• Niederlande
• Neuseeland
• Spanien
• Vereinigte Staaten

See also

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