The UCI Gran Fondo World Championships will award UCI World Champion rainbow jerseys to the planet’s finest amateur riders over the Medio Fondo and Gran Fondo road races as well as individual time trials.
The world heads to Scotland
The inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships, held in Scotland from Thursday 3 to Sunday 13 August, will not only see the world’s strongest professionals compete for victory but the strongest competitive amateur riders, too, as they chase Medio Fondo or Gran Fondo glory. These committed, powerful athletes have qualified for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships via their results in the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, with events held in Australia, Italy, Indonesia, Dubai, France, the USA, Croatia, Costa Rica… The Isle of Man presented the final chance to qualify this year.
They are now gearing up for the most prestigious amateur road competition in the world. The city of Perth, on the banks of the River Tay, will play host to the start and finish points for both the Gran Fondo (160.3km of racing with 1,663m of elevation) and Medio Fondo (85.7km, 777m) road races. The time trial will take place from Dundee to Angus (22.8km, 89m).
Time trials and road races
Women and men will battle for the rainbow jersey and the podium spots in different age categories: 19-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64 and so on.
The women, from 19 to 49 years old, race the Gran Fondo on Friday 4 August, at the same time as the men aged 19 to 59 years old (with start times set from 10:50). The participants in the Medio Fondo will start earlier the same day, from 10:00.
For the individual time trial, all age groups will compete on the same roads, on the same day – Monday 7 August – with the different categories starting their efforts from 10:00.
The cream of the amateur crop
Riders who finished in the top 25% of their age group in one of the global events of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series qualified for the UCI World Championships. Not all of them will make it to Scotland, due to their personal goals and constraints, but it will still make for a highly competitive bunch of riders ready to give their all for the prestigious rainbow jerseys adorned by the biggest names of the sport.
Last year’s Worlds in Trente, Italy, crowned special talents such as Christina Rausch, Loïck Dussol, Jeannie Longo… But it will be a totally different competition this year, on a different type of course, as reigning UCI World Champions Laura Šimenc and Stefan Kirchmair explain ahead of their Scottish battles.
Thousands of amateurs are preparing their legs and bikes for a great showdown.