Getty ImagesNurPhoto
Outside of Grand Tours, pro cycling’s premier global showdowns happen each year at the world championships. Hosted by the UCI, the sport’s international governing body, these events are held in different venues throughout the year as riders vie for the world title in their given discipline. (The most recent were the 2019 Cyclocross World Championships, held in Denmark earlier this month.)
But that will all change in 2023, when the UCI plans to consolidate all of its world championship race series into a single, Olympics-style event hosted in one city.
[Find 52 weeks of tips and motivation, with space to fill in your mileage and favorite routes, with the Bicycling Training Journal.]
UCI President David Lappartient unveiled the change on Friday, announcing that Glasgow, Scotland, will host all 13 world championships in 2023.
“This historic and innovative competition will be held over two weeks in August 2023,” Lappartient said during a press event at a Glasgow velodrome.
The world championships include most major cycling disciplines, with riders competing for rainbow jerseys in road, track, mountain biking, ’cross, BMX, artistic cycling, and para-cycling events.
“From 2023, the [combined] UCI Cycling World Championships will be held every four years, in each pre-Summer Olympic year,” read an official statement from the governing body. “Over several weeks, the host city and/or region will become the true cycling capital of the world.”
UCI press officer Louis Chenaille confirmed to Bicycling that in the intervening years, the world championships will follow their traditional format, being hosted in different venues around the globe. Only the combined event will occur every four years.
Scotland has not yet seen a road or track world championship, but it hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and was a joint host of last year’s first European Sports Championships, both of which included cycling events. Each season since 2001, the U.K. country has hosted a round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William, a town about 100 miles north of Glasgow. Fort William was also the site of the 2007 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.
According to the UCI, new venues will be built to accommodate the combined 2023 championships.
