UCI World Championships
The Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for cycling recognised by the International Olympic Committee. The UCI’s mission is to develop and promote cycling, in close collaboration with National Federations, as a competitive sport, as a healthy recreational activity or as a means of transport. The UCI governs the eight disciplines of the sport of cycling: road, track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, BMX, trials, indoor and para.
Four of them are represented at the Olympic Games (road, track, mountain bike and BMX), two at the Paralympic Games (road, track) and three at the Youth Olympic Games (road, mountain bike and BMX). Additionally the UCI promotes a number of its own events, including the UCI Road World Championships, an iconic annual event, and a wide range of other UCI World Championships and World Cups across the various disciplines.
The UCI World Championships (Track Cycling and Road) are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine the world champion cyclists in each respective event. As can be expected, these are held in several different styles of racing, and in a different country each year. Championship winners famously wear a white jersey with coloured bands around the chest for the following year, which is a coveted trophy and racing experience. 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 event are bestowed 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.
UCI World Championships (Track Cycling and Road) are held for men and for women, on the road, in a velodrome, as well as cross-country, downhill and indoors events. There are also UCI World Championships for disabled competitors.
World Championship Achievements
The most titled Track Cycling and Road UCI World Championships competitors in the history of the championships, where, since 1993, 38 nations have won medals. The biggest overall winner in the UCI World Championships (Track Cycling and Road) is French athlete Arnaud Tournant who heads the men’s medals table with 14 gold, three silver and two bronze between 1997 and 2008. Tournant is followed by Great Britain’s Chris Hoy who has won 25 medals of which 11 were gold and France’s Florian Rousseau who won 16 medals with 10 being gold.
The Australian cyclist Anna Meares dominates the women’s medals table with 23 medals, 10 of which are gold, 8 silver and 5 bronze, since 2003 and she is still competing. Between 1994 and 1999, French athlete Félicia Ballanger also won 10 gold medals, as well as one silver. Great Britain’s Victoria Pendleton is third in the medals table with 16 medals, 9 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze between 2005 and her retirement in 2012.
Cycling on the Up
For the worlds’ top cyclists, the Track Cycling and Road, UCI World Championships will be a chance to compete for these much-coveted rainbow jerseys awarded to world champions. For fans, it is a chance to watch sporting history made and experience the cycling boom. For sports betting aficionados, they are dream events will many competitions and competitors attracting some mouth-watering odds.
