The UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland from 3 to 13 August will unite thousands of athletes competing in 13 different UCI World Championships.
Among them will be athletes who have been training at the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, this year. These riders are part of the centre’s education and training programme which enables cyclists from all regions of the world – mostly from countries lacking the necessary resources to support their talented athletes - to train and race full time. The UCI WCC helps them realise their potential and prepare for major competitions.
Nineteen of the UCI WCC’s 2023 intake will be competing at next month’s UCI Cycling World Championships in either track, road, BMX Racing or mountain bike. They will be accompanied by as many support staff – coaches, mechanics, physiotherapist/soigneurs and administrative staff – divided across the different competition sites. While some will be lodged and catered for by the UCI WCC, others will join their National Federation delegations and benefit simply from the UCI WCC in-competition support.
Every year, the centre’s trainees benefit from similar support at the UCI World Championships for the different disciplines, but this will be the first time they will all be competing in the same event.
The UCI WCC trainees, who come from 17 different countries on four continents, will be joined in Scotland by around 12 African road cyclists, half of whom are part of the UCI WCC’s Africa 2025 programme to prepare the continent’s talents for the 2025 UCI Road World Championships taking place in Kigali, Rwanda. They will travel from their current training base in Brittany, France.
UCI World Cycling Centre Director Jacques Landry said: “Our UCI WCC athletes have been training with us since the beginning of this year, and have already competed in international competitions in their respective disciplines. With the first-ever UCI Cycling World Championships, they have an exciting opportunity to travel together to the same event.
“It is always wonderful to see our trainees competing against the world’s best. For some, their participation is part of their development process, while others have very definite goals they want to achieve.
“This year will be particularly enriching with the participation of members of our Africa 2025 programme. It is fantastic to be able to give them the opportunity to compete at the highest level as they set their eyes on Rwanda in two years’ time.”
Photo: African athletes currently training in Brittany who will benefit from UCI WCC support at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships