Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) (English: International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland.

The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces disciplinary rules, such as in matters of doping. The UCI also manages the classification of races and the points ranking system in various cycling disciplines including mountain biking, road and track cycling, for both men and women, amateur and professional. It also oversees the World Championships.

History[link]

The UCI was founded on 14 April 1900 in Paris by the national cycling organisations of Belgium, the United States, France, Italy, and Switzerland. It replaced the International Cycling Association by setting up in opposition in a row over whether Great Britain should be allowed just one team at world championships or separate teams representing Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Britain found itself outflanked and it was not able to join the UCI - under the conditions the UCI had imposed - until 1903.^[1]

There were originally 30 countries affiliated to the union. They did not have equal voting power and some had no vote at all. Votes were distributed by the number of tracks, or velodromes, that each nation claimed. France had 18 votes, the highest number, and Germany and Italy 14 each. Britain had eight, a number the writer Bill Mills said was acquired "by including many rather doubtful grass tracks."^[2]

In 1965, under the pressure of the IOC (the Olympics was then an amateur event), the UCI created two subsidiary bodies, the International Amateur Cycling Federation (Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme or FIAC) and the International Professional Cycling Federation (Fédération Internationale de Cyclisme Professionnel or FICP). The UCI assumed a role coordinating both bodies.

The FIAC was based in Rome, the FICP in Luxembourg, and the UCI in Geneva.

The FIAC was the bigger of the two organisations, with 127 member federations across all five continents. It was dominated by the countries of the Eastern bloc which were amateur. The FIAC arranged representation of cycling at the Olympic Games, and FIAC cyclists competed against FICP members on only rare occasions. In 1992, the UCI reunified the FIAC and FICP, and merged them back into the UCI. The combined organisation then relocated to Aigle, close to the IOC in Lausanne.

In 2004, the UCI constructed a 200-metre velodrome at the new World Cycling Centre adjacent to its headquarters.

World championships[link]

The UCI organises cycling's world championships, administration of which it gives to member nations. The first championships were on the road and on the track. They were allocated originally to member nations in turn, on condition the country was deemed competent and that it could guarantee ticket sales.^[3] A nation given a championship or series of championships was required to pay the UCI 30 per cent of ticket receipts from the track and 10 per cent from the road. Of this, the UCI kept 30 per cent and gave the rest to competing nations in proportion to the number of events in which it competed. The highest gate money in this pre-war era was 600 000 francs in Paris in 1903.^[4]

There were originally five championships: amateur and professional sprint, amateur and professional road race, and professional motor-pace. The road race was traditionally a massed start but did not have to be: Britain organised its road championship before the war as a time trial, the National Cyclists Union believing it best to run races against the clock, and without publicity before the start, to avoid police attention. Continental European organisers generally preferred massed races on circuits, fenced throughout or along the finish to charge for entry.

Records[link]

The original records were on the track: unpaced, human-paced and mechanically paced. They were promoted for three classes of bicycle: solos, tandems and unusual machines such as what are now known as recumbents, on which the rider lies horizontal. Distances were imperial and metric, from 440 yards and 500 metres to 24 hours.^[5] The UCI banned recumbents in competitions and in record attempts on on 1 April 1934. Later changes included restrictions on riding positions of the sort that affected Graeme Obree in the 1990s and the banning in 2000 of all frames that did not have a seat tube.

Rainbow jersey[link]

The winner of a world title is awarded a rainbow jersey, white with five coloured bands on the chest. This jersey can be worn in the type of competition in which it was won until the next world champion is selected. Former champions are allowed to wear rainbow trim to their clothes.

Secreteriat[link]

Entrance of UCI headquarters at Aigle (Switzerland)

Presidents[link]

Controversy[link]

The UCI was accused of accepting a bribe in the 1990s to introduce the keirin, a track cycling race, into the Olympics. An investigation by the BBC claims that the UCI was paid approximately $3,000,000 by Japanese sources to add the race to the Olympic programme, something denied by the UCI.^[6]

When Floyd Landis confessed to using performance enhancing drugs throughout his career in May 2010, he alleged that the UCI had accepted a bribe from Lance Armstrong to cover up an EPO positive after the 2001 Tour de Suisse.^[7]

Disciplines[link]

Road racing[link]

Men[link]

From 1989 until 2004, the UCI administered the UCI Road World Cup, a season-long competition incorporating all the major one-day professional road races. In 2005 this was replaced by the UCI ProTour series which initially included the Grand Tour road cycling stage races (the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España) and a wider range of other one-day and stage races. However the three Grand Tour races withdrew from the series, and in July 2008 all the major professional teams threatened to quit the series, putting its future in doubt.[1] The ProTour was replaced as a ranking system the following year by the UCI World Ranking, which added the three Grand Tours, two early season stage races, and five more one-day classics to the 14 remaining ProTour events.

To expand the participation and popularity of professional road bicycle racing throughout the globe, the UCI develop a series of races collectively known as the UCI Continental Circuits for each region of the world.

Women[link]

The UCI has supported elite level competition for women since 1959 including the crowning of a Women's World Cycling Champion (Road Race) and beginning in 1994, honoring a Women's World Time Trial Champion at the UCI Road World Championships, Women event.

Since 1998, the UCI Women's Road World Cup has served as a season-long competition of elite-level one-day and stage race events.

Track cycling[link]

The UCI Track World Championships for men and women offers individual and team championships in several track cycling disciplines.

Para-cycling Track[link]

The UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships for men and women offers individual and team championships in several track cycling disciplines.

Cyclo-cross[link]

Each UCI-sponsored event feeds into the season-long competition known as the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup. In addition, a series of single-day events are held each year to determine the Cyclo-cross World Champion at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.

Mountain bike racing[link]

In mountain bike racing, the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships is the most important and prestigious competition each year. This includes the disciplines of cross-country, downhill and four-cross. In addition, this event consists of world championship events for bike trials riding. In 2012 the first cross-country eliminator world championship will be held in Saalfelden.^[8]

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is a series of races, held annually since 1991.

At the 2011 World Championships held in Champéry, Switzerland the UCI announced a controversial new sponsorship deal with the previously unheard of RockyRoads Network.^[9]

BMX racing[link]

The season-long competition is known as the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup and the UCI BMX World Championships serves as the one-day world championships for BMX racing (bicycle motorcross) cycling.

Indoor cycling[link]

The UCI sponsors world championships for artistic cycling and cycle ball at an annual event known as the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships.

Membership[link]

Continental confederations[link]

The national federations form confederations by continent:

• Asian Cycling Confederation – ACC
• Union Européenne de Cyclisme – UEC (European Cycling Union)
• Oceanian Cycling Confederation – OCC
• Confederacion Panamericana de Ciclismo – COPACI (Pan American Cycling Confederation)
• Confederation Africaine de Cyclisme – CAC (African Cycling Confederation)

National Federations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• UCI official website

v t e International cycling UCI World Championships B World Championships World Cup Olympics Paralympics Commonwealth Games Asian Games All-Africa Games Pan American Games World Ranking Cyclists Teams Competitions Federations Asia ACC – UCI Asia Tour Africa CAC – UCI Africa Tour America COPACI – UCI America Tour Oceania OCC – UCI Oceania Tour Europe UEC – UCI Europe Tour World UCI – UCI World Tour

v t e National Members of the Union Cycliste Internationale Olympic Disciplines (road bicycle racing  • Track cycling  • BMX racing) Other Disciplines (Cyclo-cross  • mountain bike racing (cross-country, downhill, four-cross, trials riding  • Indoor  • Para-cycling Track) Asia (ACC) BAN BHR BRU CHN TPE HKG IND IRI IRQ JPN JOR KAZ KGZ KOR KUW LAO LBN MAC MAS MGL MYA NEP OMA PAK PHI PRK QAT KSA SIN SRI SYR THA TKM TUN UAE UZB VIE YEM Africa (CAC} ALG ANG BDI BEN BUR CGO CIV CMR COM CPV EGY ERI ETH GAB GUI KEN LBA LES MAD MAW MLI MRI MAR NAM NGR NIG RWA SEN SEY SOM RSA SUD TOG TUN UGA ZAM ZIM America (COPACI) ATG ARG ARU BAH BAR BER BIZ BOL BRA CAN CAY CHI COL CRC CUB DOM ECU ESA GRN GLP GUA GUY HAI HON JAM MTQ MEX ANT NCA PAN PAR PER PUR SKN LCA VIN SUR TRI USA ISV URU VEN Oceania (OCC) AUS TLS FIJ GUM INA NZL Europe UEC ALB AND ARM AUT AZE BEL BIH BLR BUL CRO CYP CZE DEN EST FIN FRA GBR GEO GER GRE HUN IRL ISR ITA) LAT LIE LTU LUX MDA MKD MLT MNE MON * NED NOR POL POR ROU RUS SMR SRB SLO SUI SVK ESP SWE TUR UKR Former Members Pinnacle Events Cycling at the Summer Olympics  • UCI World Championships  • Tour de France