The Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.
Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common competition formats are mass start events, where riders start simultaneously and race to a set finish point; and time trials, where individual riders or teams race a course alone against the clock. Stage races or "tours" take multiple days, and consist of several mass-start or time-trial stages ridden consecutively.
Mountain bike racing is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Durango, Colorado. The first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series took place in 1988. Its nine-race circuit covered two continents—Europe and North America—and was sponsored by Grundig. Cross-country racing was the only World Cup sport at this time. In 1993, a six-event downhill World Cup was introduced. In 1996, cross-country mountain biking events were added to the Olympic Games. In 2006, cross-country mountain biking events became part of the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time in San Francisco, USA.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scale.
The UCI World Championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winners wear a white jersey with coloured bands around the chest for the following year. The similarity to the colours of a rainbow gives them the colloquial name of "the rainbow jersey." The first three individuals or teams in each championship win gold, silver and bronze medals. Former world champions are allowed to wear a trim to their collar and sleeves in the same pattern as the rainbow jersey.
Cycling at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics was held from 17 to 22 August. The event took place at The Float at Marina Bay for the road cycling and at Tampines Bike Park for the BMX and mountain biking.
The 2011 Vuelta a España was held from 20 August to 11 September. The bicycle race began in Benidorm with a team time trial and ended, as is traditional, in Madrid. The 2011 Vuelta was the 66th edition of the race and was the first Vuelta in 33 years that visited the Basque Country. The 33-year absence from the region was due to fear of political protests.
The 2011 Tour of Beijing was the inaugural running of the Tour of Beijing cycling stage race. It started with an individual time trial around the Beijing Olympic Village on 5 October and finished at the Bird's Nest on 9 October.
Leah Kirchmann is a Canadian racing cyclist, who rides for National Cycling League team Denver Disruptors. She competed in the 2013 UCI women's road race in Florence. At the 2014 Global Relay Canadian Road Championships, held in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, she won the road race, time trial and the criterium, becoming the first woman to win all three titles in the same year.
The 2015 UCI World Tour was the seventh edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The series started with the opening stage of the Tour Down Under on 20 January, and concluded with Il Lombardia on 4 October.
The 2015 Gent–Wevelgem was a one-day cycling classic that took place in Belgium and France on 29 March 2015. It was the 77th edition of the Gent–Wevelgem race, and was the seventh race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The defending champion was John Degenkolb, who had won the 2014 edition in a bunch sprint.
Phetetso Monese is a cross-country mountain biker who placed 21st at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He currently races on the Ace - The Sufferfest - Lesotho MTB Team and is the highest ranked black African rider on the UCI rankings. Phetetso Monese is also part of the first Basotho team to feature as part of the podium of the UCI Lesotho Sky stage race coming 2nd overall and winning day 4 of the event. Monese has qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Olympic cyclist from Lesotho.
The 2016 UCI World Tour was a competition that included 27 road cycling events throughout the 2016 men's cycling season. It was the eighth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2009. The competition started with the opening stage of the Tour Down Under on 19 January, and concluded with Il Lombardia on 1 October. Spain's Alejandro Valverde was the two-times defending champion.
The 51st edition of the Tirreno–Adriatico cycling stage race was held from 9 to 15 March 2016. It was the third event of the 2016 UCI World Tour. Due to the cancellation of stage 5, the race was run over six stages, covering a total distance of 850.8 km (529 mi).
The 2016 Tour of the Basque Country was a road cycling stage race that took place in the Basque Country between 4 and 9 April 2016. It was the 56th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country and the ninth event of the 2016 UCI World Tour.
The definition of ultra-distance cycling is far more vague than in ultra running or in ultra-triathlon. Any bike race or ride longer than a century ride, which is 100 miles (160 km), is sometimes considered to be ultra-distance cycling. However, such events are relatively common, so using a longer distance to define the category is more useful, such as any race or ride that is longer than 200 kilometres (120 mi), 300 kilometres (190 mi) or even a double century, 200 miles (320 km).
The 2016 Paris–Roubaix was a one-day classic cycling race that took place on 10 April 2016 in northern France. It was the 114th edition of the Paris–Roubaix and was the tenth race of the 2016 UCI World Tour and the third monument of the season.
Maximilian Kuen is an Austrian former professional cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2021 for the Gebrüder Weiss–Oberndorfer, Tirol Cycling Team, My Bike–Stevens and Team Vorarlberg squads.
The 2016 Amstel Gold Race was a one-day classic cycling race that took place in the Limburg region of the Netherlands on 17 April 2016. It was the 51st edition of the Amstel Gold Race and the eleventh event of the 2016 UCI World Tour. It was also the first of the Ardennes classics, although it is technically not in the Ardennes region. The race took place over a 258-kilometre (160 mi) route that starts in Maastricht and ends in Berg en Terblijt on the outskirts of Valkenburg. The key difficulty in the race came from the 34 short but steep climbs. The central climb, the Cauberg, was crossed four times, with 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) between the final summit and the finish line. The favourites for victory in the race included the three-time winner Philippe Gilbert (BMC), the defending champion Michał Kwiatkowski (Sky), and Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews.
For the cycling competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the following qualification systems are in place.
