Meeting the last two days in Lavey-les-Bains, Switzerland, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Management Committee has taken numerous decisions to further develop the sport and strengthen the good governance of the International Federation.
With a desire to revitalise track cycling according to key elements defined in the UCI’s Agenda 2022, the Management Committee approved a global reform of the discipline’s calendar.
The current UCI Track Cycling World Cup will undergo several changes from the 2020-2021 season: the number of rounds of the series will go from six to three, and these will no longer be organised from October to January but between July and September, starting in 2021. Moreover, the World Cup will change its name to the UCI Track Cycling Nations’ Cup. As the name suggests, participation will be reserved uniquely for national teams.
From 2021, the UCI Track Cycling World Championships (Elite) will no longer be organised in March but in October, after the end of the new UCI Track Cycling Nations’ Cup.
The Management Committee also agreed to the project to create a new series with an innovative format, the first edition of which will be organised between November 2021 and February 2022. This series aims to increase the appeal of track cycling thanks to a dynamic and attractive format, ideal for television and for spectators present at the event, and simple to understand and follow, even for audiences new to the sport. Selected riders will participate as individuals in the colours of their nation. Further information on the track cycling reform will be communicated after the next UCI Management Committee meeting, which will take place in September 2019 during the UCI Road World Championships. With the UCI Track Cycling Nations’ Cup, the UCI Track Cycling World Championships and the appearance of this series, the new calendar will give track cycling optimal visibility throughout the year. Moreover, the agreed date changes will ensure consistency for the discipline’s calendar in the years that will feature the UCI Cycling World Championships, which will bring together different UCI Worlds and which will take place for the first time in 2023 in Glasgow and Scotland.
With regards to the reform of cyclo-cross and following a call for tender made in April, the Management Committee granted the UCI World Cup for the discipline to the organisation Flanders Classics, for a period going from the 2020-2021 season to the 2023-2024 season. The rights concerned are the following: general organisation rights, marketing and sponsoring rights, and distribution of television rights for the UCI World Cup and the UCI World Championships in Belgium (in Flemish), including TV production of the World Cup (worldwide) and the World Championships (in Belgium). More detailed information on the reform and on the concept of the new UCI World Cup for cyclo-cross developed with this new partner, including the calendar for the series, will be communicated at the end of the next UCI Management Committee meeting in September 2019.
Created in 2010 by a group of media, active notably in television production and broadcasting, Flanders Classics already organise 16 men’s and women’s one-day road races in Belgium, including four prestigious UCI WorldTour events: De Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres, Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields, Dwars door Vlaanderen - A Travers la Flandre and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite.
The UCI President David Lappartient welcomed this decision: “This partnership with Flanders Classics opens new international development possibilities for cyclo-cross. This company has demonstrated its know-how and its professionalism by taking the events it organises and promotes to unprecedented levels of popularity. The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup will greatly benefit from its expertise in domains such as the production and broadcasting of images and the improvement of the offer to spectators.”
The Management Committee also approved an action plan aiming to increase the appeal of road cycling events. A large-scale poll will be carried out this summer to obtain a better understanding of the wider public’s expectations. In parallel, a vast consultation will be carried out via interviews with cycling’s different stakeholders, and within the Event Appeal Working Group. A series of propositions will be drawn up on the basis of this three-fold initiative with a view to their approval by the Professional Cycling Council and the UCI Management Committee.
In another field, the UCI Management Committee took several measures aiming to strengthen the good governance of the International Federation as well as its Continental Confederations and member National Federations.
To be renewed at the next UCI Congress, the Federation’s Ethics Commission will, from the election of its new members, be composed exclusively of people who have no link with the UCI, the Continental Confederations, or the National Federations. This new measure, which features in the UCI’s Agenda 2022, will assert the importance of the independent operation of the Ethics Commission in accordance with the best standards of good governance.
Initiatives aiming to increase the number of women represented within the UCI’s member organisations have been approved subject to confirmation by the UCI Congress next September. The objective of these is notably to bring the proportion of women on the Continental Confederation Executive Committees and among the continental voting delegates at the UCI Congress to at least 25%, and to ensure there is an appropriate representation of women within National Federations. The same threshold of 25% shall also be applied to the UCI Ethics Commission. Strengthening the position of women in the governance of cycling, at all levels, is one of the priorities of the UCI’s Agenda 2022, along with the promotion of women’s cycling. Since the election of David Lappartient as President, the UCI has taken a whole series of measures to promote men / women equity, for example concerning sporting programmes and prize money, and by drawing up charters for gender equity within the UCI’s administration and for respectful treatment of women (for example during medal ceremonies).
The Management Committee approved the UCI’s 2018 Annual Report. This sets out progress made throughout the year – as initiatives contained in the Agenda 2022 are implemented – in numerous areas: the reform of men’s and women’s professional road cycling, solidarity programmes, the promotion of women’s position in the sport and its governance, the reinforcement of the fight against technological fraud, the launch of the UCI Cycling World Championships (first edition in 2023), the integration of new disciplines (e-cycling, E-mountain bike, Enduro, pump track), the creation of the position of TV-Support Commissaire and the banning of tramadol, among others.
As for future UCI World Championships for different disciplines, members of the Management Committee welcomed the successful procedure for awarding our Federation’s major events. At the next UCI Congress the organising cities of all editions of UCI Worlds for our Olympic disciplines from 2020 to 2024 will be known. This will enable member National Federations and UCI partners to undertake optimal preparation by benefitting from a record five-year visibility of upcoming events. Following this success and to ensure transparency for everyone concerned, the UCI is opening the bidding procedure for Continental Confederations, National Federations and organisers for the organisation of the UCI World Championships which will be awarded in September 2020:
Between 2019 and 2020, the UCI will have awarded a total of 43 UCI World Championships, and in September 2020 we should know the host cities for the UCI World Championships for all Olympic disciplines until 2027 and for the totality of disciplines until 2024.
Ensuring fitness for cycling is another important domain for the UCI, as it guarantees the good health of riders. After banning the use of tramadol in competition – as of 1 March 2019 – due to the dangers it represents (risks of drowsiness and dependence), the UCI now means to test the side-effects of corticosteroid treatments. These substances, although frequently prescribed for patients in the general public, can provoke side effects that put the health of high-level sportsmen and sportswomen at risk. This is notably the case in cycling, due to potential increase in medical consequences of accidents. UCI Medical Director Professor Xavier Bigard presented a plan of action to Management Committee members, which would require team doctors who have approved local infiltration of this substance to not only prescribe eight days’ leave from work and competition for the riders concerned, but also to check that the adrenal glands are again functioning normally. This regulation should come into force in 2020.
The 2020 UCI Gran Fondo World Series calendar was approved during the meeting and the organisation of the 2020 UCI Trials World Youth Games were awarded to the city of Cordon, in France.
2020 UCI Gran Fondo World Series Calendar:
Following the two days of meetings, the UCI President David Lappartient declared: “With the decisions taken to make track cycling and cyclo-cross more attractive, to increase the appeal of road cycling and to strengthen the good governance of our Federation, the Management Committee has demonstrated its commitment to the central elements of the UCI Agenda 2022. I would like to thank the Management Committee for its support. I am also delighted that the success of our next World Championships with organisers means that we can now open the bidding procedure for some 30 events taking place through until 2027.”
The next UCI Management Committee meeting will take place from 24 to 26 September in Harrogate, Great Britain, during the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire.