Union Cycliste Internationale

Entrance of UCI headquarters at Aigle (Switzerland)

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is a professional cycling union that oversees competitive cycling events in the international community. It is the world governing body for jurisdiction in the sport of cycling. The UCI is headquartered in Aigle, Switzerland. The English translation is the International Cycling Union.

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 – in which different countries compete instead of trade teams – in various disciplines and in different categories. The winners of these races have the right to wear a special rainbow jersey for the following year, and have the right to wear the same rainbow pattern on their jersey collar and cuffs for the remainder of their careers.

History

The UCI was founded April 14, 1900 in Paris by the national cycling organisations of Belgium, the United States, France, Italy, and Switzerland.

In 1965, under the pressure of the IOC (the Olympics was then very much 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 wholly amateur. The FIAC arranged representation of cycling at the Olympic Games, and FIAC cyclists only competed against FICP members on rare occasions.

In 1992, the UCI reunified the FIAC and FICP, and merged them back into the UCI. The combined organisation then relocated to Lausanne, close to the IOC.

In 2004, the UCI constructed a new 200 metre velodrome at the new world cycling centre adjacent to its headquarters.

Presidents

Name	Country	Presidency
Emile de Beukelaer	Belgium	1900-1922
Léon Breton	France	1922-1936
Max Burgi	Switzerland	1936-1939
Alban Collignon	Belgium	1939-1947
Achille Joinard	France	1947-1958
Adriano Rodoni	Italy	1958-1981
Luis Puig	Spain	1981-1990
Hein Verbruggen	Netherlands	1991-2006
Pat McQuaid	Ireland	2006-

International governing body

Road racing

From 1988 until 2004, the UCI administered the UCI 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 includes 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.

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.

Track cycling

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

Cyclo-cross

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

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 4-cross. In addition, this event consists of world championship events for bike trials riding.

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

BMX racing

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.

Indoor cycling

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

Continental Confederations

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)

External link

• UCI official website