UCI Road World Championships
The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and as of 2012 Team Time Trials.
Events
All the world championship events, except team time trials from 2012, are ridden by national teams, not trade teams such as in most other major races. The winner of each category is entitled to wear the rainbow jersey in races of that category (either mass start or time trial) until the next championships. It currently includes the following championships:
- Elite Men's road race
- Elite Men's time trial
- Men's team time trial (for trade teams)
- Under-23 Men's road race
- Under-23 Men's time trial
- Junior Men's road race
- Junior Men's time trial
- Elite Women's road race
- Elite Women's time trial
- Women's team time trial (for trade teams)
- Junior Women's road race
- Junior Women's time trial
Former events:
- Men's amateur road race
- Men's team time trial (for national teams)
- Women's team time trial (for national teams)
History
The first world championships took place in 1921, though the only event that was contested was the Men's Road Race for Amateurs.[1] The first professional world championship took place in July 1927 at the Nürburgring in Germany where Italian Alfredo Binda won the professional men's race and Belgian Jean Aerts won the men's amateur race. The women's road race was introduced in 1958. A men's team time trial, contested by national teams, was introduced in 1962. Beginning in 1972, the team time trial was discontinued in Olympic years only. Individual time trials in all categories were added in 1994, which was also the last year for the original incarnation of the men's team time trial. In 2012, the men's team time trial was reinstated, and a women's team time trial added to the program; both are contested by trade teams.
Until 1995, there were separate races for male professional and amateur riders. In 1996, the amateur category was replaced with a category for men under-23 years old with the professional category becoming an open (later elite) category.
Since 1995, the race has been held towards the end of the European season in late September, usually following the Vuelta a España. Before that, the event had always been a summer race, held in late August or the first week of September (with the exception of 1970, when it was a mid-season summer event).
The world championships are located in a different city or region every year. The event can be held over a relatively flat course which favors cycling sprinters or a hilly course which favors a climbing specialist or all-round. In each case the course is usually held on a circuit of which the riders complete multiple laps.
The world championship and two of the three Grand Tours (namely the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France) form the Triple Crown of Cycling.
Championships
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All-time medal table
- Updated after 2016 Championships.
Medal table includes only medals achieved in elite (senior) events. Mixed nation team events such as the Team Time Trial from 2012 to 2015 are excluded.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Italy | 50 | 45 | 40 | 135 |
| 2 | .svg.png){kind=small} Belgium | 38 | 27 | 28 | 93 |
| 3 |  France | 32 | 29 | 30 | 91 |
| 4 |  Netherlands | 28 | 23 | 24 | 75 |
| 5 |  Switzerland | 15 | 21 | 18 | 54 |
| 6 |  Germany | 13 | 16 | 19 | 48 |
| 7 |  Great Britain | 13 | 11 | 8 | 32 |
| 8 |  Soviet Union | 12 | 16 | 16 | 44 |
| 9 |  United States | 11 | 13 | 11 | 35 |
| 10 |  East Germany | 10 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
| 11 |  Sweden | 9 | 5 | 7 | 21 |
| 12 |  Spain | 8 | 13 | 16 | 37 |
| 13 |  Poland | 7 | 7 | 3 | 17 |
| 14 |  Denmark | 5 | 11 | 8 | 24 |
| 15 |  Australia | 4 | 9 | 3 | 16 |
| 16 | West Germany | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| 17 |  Russia | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 18 |  Lithuania | 3 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
| 19 |  Norway | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 20 |  Slovakia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 |  Belarus | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 22 |  Luxembourg | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 23 |  New Zealand | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 24 |  Ukraine | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 25 |  Ireland | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 26 |  Latvia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 |  Colombia | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 28 |  Portugal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 |  Canada | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 30 |  Czechoslovakia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 31 |  Austria | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 32 |  Hungary | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 33 |  Brazil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 |  Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 35 | Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Uruguay | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 277 | 277 | 277 | 831 |
Countries
- Belgium at the UCI Road World Championships
- Germany at the UCI Road World Championships
- Italy at the UCI Road World Championships
- Netherlands at the UCI Road World Championships
- United States at the UCI Road World Championships
See also
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to UCI Road World Championships. |
- ↑ "Road Cycling: World Championships: Men: Road Race for Amateurs". Sports 123. Retrieved 2013-10-15.