The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is pleased to announce the publication of its Annual Report and Financial Report for 2020. From today, these can be consulted in full on the Federation’s website (uci.org).
Approved by the UCI Management Committee, the document highlights the accomplishments achieved and progress made throughout the year, while setting out the measures implemented to ensure the Federation’s activities could continue in a context marked by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UCI invested much energy in managing the effects of the health crisis on cycling and all involved in our sport. It worked on implementing innovative and effective health protocols to enable a large proportion of the major events on its International Calendar to take place safely, and to quickly draw up an alternative calendar with a view to the season resuming after its abrupt interruption in March 2020. The UCI also took measures of a financial nature to get through the unprecedented period of uncertainty as well as possible.
Thanks to the efforts made, numerous important competitions were able to take place when it could have been feared that all events would be cancelled.
The document shows that the UCI continued to move forward with the realisation of the objectives in its “Agenda 2022”. In particular, the UCI made progress in the development of its disciplines with the reforms of women’s professional road cycling, of track cycling – notably the launch of the UCI Track Champions League – and of cyclo-cross, and the integration of cycling esports, which saw its first UCI World Championships take place in December. The UCI also made progress in the domain of ethics and good governance, in particular via initiatives concerning the representation of women in management bodies, the fight against abuse and the promotion of well-being.
The UCI’s development and solidarity activities, under the auspices of the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC), are also detailed in the 2020 UCI Annual Report.
Other central themes are also addressed, such as the optimisation of the UCI’s fight against doping thanks to the transfer of its operational activities from the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) to the International Testing Agency (ITA), the improvement of its programme in the fight against technological fraud with the adoption of new hand-held X-ray camera technology, and the continuation of activities to promote cycling for all with the explosion of bicycle use during the pandemic.
In the interests of transparency, the UCI’s 2020 Annual Report presents not only a full record of the last year, but also the audited consolidated financial statements of the UCI and the UCI WCC, and the UCI’s financial statements for 2020, prepared and verified in line with Swiss GAAP RPC. The efforts of the UCI and its stakeholders to stage the 2020 UCI World Championships for both road and mountain bike as well as a major part of the UCI WorldTour calendar, and the quick and decisive cost-cutting measures adopted along with support from the Swiss Confederation enabled the UCI to post a consolidated operating result of -1.8M Swiss Francs and a net result of -1.0M Swiss Francs – far beyond our expectations at the beginning of the crisis. Thanks to a 5M US Dollar advance from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the UCI’s year end cash and investments increased to 47.2M Swiss Francs, and with the Olympic Games revenues due to be received in 2021 and 2022, the UCI’s audited financial statements confirm its very solid financial base.
In addition, and as is the case every year, the 2020 UCI Annual Report includes extensive useful information about the Federation and its activities, including a general introduction to the institution and the disciplines it governs, the lists and compositions of its bodies and commissions, the list of the 197 member National Federations, and the results and rankings of all the UCI events throughout the season.
The UCI President David Lappartient declared: “2020 was a very difficult year for world sport. Nevertheless, the UCI and all the cycling family’s stakeholders united their efforts so that our sport could continue to develop and make fans dream. I would again like to thank everyone, notably within our 197 National Federations and five Confederations, involved in these efforts on the five continents.
“The UCI continued its work in a complicated context, and I am proud that we managed to further our progress in the realisation of our Agenda 2022, not only in the development of our disciplines but also in fundamental domains such as the reinforcement of rider safety in road races, gender parity and sustainability. Today we are in a very good position to ensure the growth of our sport and its increasing contribution to a healthy evolution of our society.”
The UCI Director General Amina Lanaya declared: “The coronavirus pandemic was – and continues to be – a major challenge for our Federation. In this delicate context, we took all possible measures to ensure our activities could continue as best as possible, notably thanks to the implementation of health protocols at competitions on our International Calendar, the establishment of revised calendars, the adoption of a cost cutting plan and adjustments to the work of the UCI Administrative Service’s staff. Today, the future looks brighter, but we are prepared to react should the current situation last longer than expected.”