UCI Road World Championships explained

UCI Road World Championships
Status:	Active
Genre:	Road bicycle racing
Date:	August–September
Frequency:	Annually
Location:	Various
Prev:	2023
Next:	2024
Organised:	UCI
Current:	2024 UCI Road World Championships

The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and, a mixed team relay.

Events

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:

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.

From 1995 until 2022, the event was held towards the end of the European season in late September, usually following the . 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 Italian: [[Giro d'Italia]]|italic=no and the) form the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Editions

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

width=30	Edition	width=30	Year	width=150	Host City	width=200	Host Country	width=30	Events
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36				4
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38				4
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41				4
42				4
43				4
44				4
45				2
46				4
47				4
48				4
49				2
50				4
51				4

valign=top

width=30	Edition	width=30	Year	width=150	Host City	width=200	Host Country	width=30	Events
52				4
53				2
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57				1
58				4
59				4
60				5
61				2
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65				2
66				5
67				7
68				5
69				6
70				10
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77				10
78				6
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84				10
85				12
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92				11
93				4
94				11
95				11
96				11
97				11
98				11
99				11
100				11
101				11

Hosts

Updated after 2023 UCI Road World Championships.

Times	Nations
14
10	-
9
8	-
7
6
5
3
2	- - -
1	- - - - - - -

All medals

Updated after 2023 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.