The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI. Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams, each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series. It was initially the basis of a season long competition for rankings points, created for 2005 to replace the UCI Road World Cup series, which ended at the end of the 2004 season. The ProTour was the subject of continuing disputes involving the UCI, cycling teams, and the organizers of the world's most prominent bicycle races, and in 2009 and 2010 the ranking element of the ProTour was superseded by the UCI World Ranking. For 2011, the ProTour and World Ranking were fully merged into the UCI World Tour. ProTour status for teams – relabelled UCI ProTeams – will continue as the highest level of registration, and will carry the right and obligation to participate in all World Tour races.
Luca Paolini is an Italian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2015. He started his sports career in the early 2000s by joining Mapei–Quick-Step (2000–2002), UCI ProTeam directed by Patrick Lefevere. Within Mapei-Quick Step and then its successor team Quick-Step–Innergetic (2003–2005), Luca Paolini achieved several victories. Among them were first places at Gran Premio di Lugano, Giro del Piemonte and Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli. He has also won stages at Tour of Britain and Tour de Wallonie.
In 2009 a number of prominent riders returned to professional cycling. Ivan Basso, Floyd Landis and Michele Scarponi had finished a suspension. Bjorn Leukemans was without a team for over a year due to doping-related allegations, which were proven to be ungrounded. Most notably, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong returned after a three-and-half year break, starting his season as a Astana-rider in the Tour Down Under.
Alexander Kristoff is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Uno-X Mobility. His biggest victories have been the 2014 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Tour of Flanders among many other successes.
The UCI men's road racing world rankings are a point system which is used to rank men's road cycling riders. Points are accrued over a rolling 52 weeks in three categories.
The 2011 season for the Veranda's Willems–Accent professional cycling team began in January at the Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise and ended in October at the Nationale Sluitingsprijs. It was the squad's fourth season as a professional cycling team, although its first as a UCI Professional Continental team; having been part of the UCI Continental Circuits since their foundation in 2008, the team acquired a Professional Continental licence following meetings of the UCI Licence Commission in November 2010.
Marcel Kittel is a German former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2019 for the Team Giant–Alpecin, Quick-Step Floors and Team Katusha–Alpecin squads. As a junior, he specialised in time trials, even winning a bronze medal in the World Championships for cyclists aged under 23. When he became a professional in 2011, he specialised in bunch sprints, winning 19 stages across the three Grand Tours, and taking 89 wins in his professional career.
Giacomo Nizzolo is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.
Jens Debusschere is a Belgian professional road bicycle racer, who most recently rode for UCI ProTeam B&B Hotels–KTM. He was named in the start list for the 2015 Tour de France. In May 2018, he was named in the startlist for the 2018 Giro d'Italia.
Ilnur Azatovich Zakarin is a Russian former racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2012 to 2022.
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 Three Days of De Panne was the 39th edition of the Three Days of De Panne cycling stage race. It took place around De Panne in West Flanders in the week between Gent–Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders, beginning on 31 March and ending on 2 April. The race included four stages, two of which took place on the final day. It was rated as a 2.1 event in the 2015 UCI Europe Tour. The defending champion was Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Etixx–Quick-Step), who won the 2014 edition by seven seconds.
The 2015 Abu Dhabi Tour was a men's cycling stage race, that took place between 8-11 October 2015. It was the inaugural edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour and was part of the 2015 UCI Asia Tour.
The 2016 Gent–Wevelgem, was a one-day cycling classic that took place on 27 March 2016. It was the 78th edition of the Gent–Wevelgem race and the seventh event of the 2016 UCI World Tour. The race followed a 243-kilometre (151 mi) course that started in Deinze and ended in Wevelgem in Belgium, with a portion of the race spent in northern France. The race included ten climbs, several of them cobbled, which provided the principal difficulty in the race. The last and most difficult climb was the Kemmelberg. The favourites for the race included Alexander Kristoff, Fabian Cancellara (Trek–Segafredo), and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff).
The 2016 Three Days of De Panne was the 40th edition of the Three Days of De Panne cycling stage race. The race included four stages, two of which took place on the final day. It was rated as a 2.HC event in the 2016 UCI Europe Tour.
The 2017 Abu Dhabi Tour was a road cycling stage race that took place between 23 and 26 February. It was the third edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour and was the third event of the 2017 UCI World Tour. It was the first time that the race was included in the UCI World Tour calendar.
2018 in men's road cycling is about the 2018 men's bicycle races governed by the UCI. The races are part of the UCI Road Calendar.
The 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour was a road cycling stage race that took place between 21 and 25 February 2018 in Abu Dhabi. It was the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour and the third event of the 2018 UCI World Tour.
The 71st edition of the Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne cycling classic was held on 3 March 2019. It was part of the 2019 UCI Europe Tour and ranked as a 1.HC event. The route was 201.1 km (125 mi), starting and finishing in Kuurne. It was the second and concluding race of the Belgian opening weekend, the year's first road races in Northwestern Europe, one day after Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
The 2020 UCI Women's World Tour was a competition that initially included twenty-one road cycling events throughout the 2020 women's cycling season. It was the fifth edition of the ranking system launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 2016. The competition began with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race Women on 1 February. The schedule was extensively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in two-thirds of the races on the calendar being either postponed or cancelled outright. As a result, the season was extended until 8 November, when the final stage of the Ceratizit Challenge by la Vuelta took place.
2024 UCI World Tour 
Joaquim Rodríguez 
