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The UCI Awards Record Number of World Championship Sites for 2020-2024

release by UCI

September 27, 2018 (Innsbruck, Austria) – Meeting from September 25 to 27 in Innsbruck, Austria, during the 2018 UCI Road World Championships, the Management Committee of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) today awarded a record number of UCI World Championships for the period 2020-2024. In total, eight countries obtained the right to organise 18 UCI Worlds for six disciplines.

UCI logoList of UCI World Championships Awarded
• 2020 UCI Road World Championships: Cantons of Vaud and Valais* (Switzerland)
This will be the 11th edition of the discipline’s UCI Worlds organised in Switzerland and the first time the major annual UCI event comes to the French-speaking region of the country. The competitions will take place principally in the region of the Rhône valley, in the heart of the Alps, close to the UCI headquarters. The routes for some of the races will have a selective profile.

• 2021 UCI Road World Championships: Flanders Region* (Belgium)
On this occasion, the UCI Worlds for road cycling will return to one of the major cycling countries, which has not hosted the event since the edition in Zolder and Hasselt in 2002. The 2021 UCI Road World Championships, contested on a typical Flanders circuit, will mark the centenary of the event, organised for the first time in 1921 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

• 2024 UCI Road World Championships and 2024 Para-cycling Road World Championships: German region of Switzerland*
Four years after the 2020 edition of the event, the world’s best riders will return to Switzerland, this time to the central region, between the mountains of the Jura and the Alps, in the German-speaking part of the Swiss Confederation. The UCI Para-cycling World Championships for road will be organised in parallel.

• 2021 UCI Track Cycling World Championships: Achgabat (Turkmenistan)
This event will take place in a velodrome that was inaugurated in 2014. Very modern, it is one of the biggest in the world with seating for 6000 spectators. It will be the third edition of the UCI Worlds for track cycling organised in Asia after Maebashi (Japan) and Hong Kong (China).

• 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships: Val di Sole (Italy)
Very experienced in the organisation of four-cross events, Val di Sole, one of the Meccas of off-road, is no less so for mountain bike cross-country Olympic and downhill. The region welcomed the discipline’s UCI Worlds in 2008 and in 2016 (downhill only that year), as well as several rounds of the UCI World Cup. The circuits are highly appreciated by the riders and public.

• 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships: Les Gets (France)
The Gets ski resort, in the French Alps, has welcomed several major events such as the French Championships for mountain bike and the UCI Worlds for the discipline in 2004. Boosted by a deep tradition in the domain, it wishes to strengthen its position of excellence in sport. These World Championships will be an important step in this regard.

• 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships: Vallnord Pal Arinsal (Andorra)
Situated in the Pyrenees, between Spain and France, this country, small in size, is an important player in the world of mountain bike, for which it welcomed the World Championships in 2015. The UCI World Cup has also stopped there several times. All these events encountered great success with the different stakeholders.

• 2021 UCI BMX World Championships: Papendal (the Netherlands)
Olympic training centre of the Dutch team, the Papendal BMX track has been the theatre of numerous rounds of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup in recent years. It is one of the not-to-be-missed venues of the BMX Racing season. The sport benefits from strong regional support and always attracts large crowds of spectators.

• 2019 and 2020 UCI Masters Cyclo-cross World Championships: Mol (Belgium)
Situated some 50km east of Antwerp, the city of Mol already welcomed this event in 2017 and 2018. The much-appreciated competition site will remain the same. The Championships can count on a very experienced organisation committee which has already organised numerous international events (World Cups and World Championships).

• 2020 and 2021 UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships: Pra-Loup (France)
Pra-Loup is situated in the Southern Alps of France, at an altitude of 1600m. Well known to road cycling enthusiasts, having welcomed the Tour de France on several occasions, the resort has also organised rounds of the French Cup for downhill as well as the UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships 10 years ago.

• 2021 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships: Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bosnia and Herzegovina will host an international UCI Gran Fondo event for the first time. However, the organisers have considerable experience in the organisation of mass participation cycling events. The arrival of the event in this country bears witness to the development of mass participation cycling outside traditional territories.

• 2022 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships: Trentino (Italy)
In 2022, it will be the Leggendaria Charly Gaul, part of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series for several years, which will provide the setting for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships. The circuits will be those of the existing event, known for its quality routes and exceptional panoramic views.

• 2019, 2020 and 2021 UCI Four-cross World Championships: Val di Sole (Italy)
The history of the UCI Four-cross World Championships is entwined with Val di Sole given that the event has already taken place there in 2008, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The Italian resort has a high-quality four-cross track, acclaimed by the athletes and public. The event will be held in conjunction with the Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.

Commenting on the awarding of this series of events, the UCI President David Lappartient said, “We are happy to have been able to award a record number of UCI World Championships for the period 2020-2024. With the UCI Road World Championships which will take place in Africa in 2025, several continents are now preparing to welcome UCI Worlds.

“Our 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships which, and this will be a first, will bring together multiple disciplines – road, mountain bike (cross-country Olympic, cross-country Marathon and downhill), track, BMX Racing, Urban Cycling (BMX Freestyle Park, trials and mountain bike Eliminator), para-cycling road and para-cycling track, indoor cycling and Gran Fondo – and transform their host into a true world cycling capital for nearly three weeks, will in principle be awarded at the latest during the next Management Committee meeting to one of the candidates in contention.

“As a reminder, with a view to internationalisation, the UCI will shortly award the 2022 edition of the UCI World Championships for emerging cycling countries, an event to be organised every four years for our five Olympic disciplines,” he concluded

*The names of the relevant cities will be communicated at a later date.





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