The 2023-2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Series is on track to attract record breaking numbers of participants, with a comprehensive calendar extended to 29 events (including the UCI World Championships) as amateurs from all around the globe take on this opportunity to challenge themselves. The best will qualify for the 2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Aalborg, Denmark, from August 29 to September 1st.
At each qualifier, the fastest 25% of finishers in the different age groups are granted a spot at the UCI Worlds. Last year, the series led to a spectacular culmination: the UCI Cycling World Championships, in Glasgow, Scotland, (United Kingdom), where the qualified riders represented 69 countries and shared centre stage with the stars of the different cycling disciplines, all battling for the prestigious rainbow jersey.
Action already underway
The first event of 2024 is set in the Levant, with the UCI Gran Fondo Jordan Dead Sea (February 1-3) followed by Spinneys Dubai 92 Cycle Challenge in the United Arab Emirates. But the series had already started in 2023, with a handful of races setting an emphatic tone.
Initially scheduled for June 2023, the Gran Fondo Matildica was postponed due to the flooding in Italy’s Emilia Romagna Region. The change of schedule made it the first rendezvous en route to Aalborg and the 2024 UCI Gran Fondo Worlds, with more than 1,000 riders battling under the sun at the end of August.
A couple of weeks later, they were 3,500 pacing up and down the Great Ocean Road in the Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo (Australia). The Tour de Batam (Indonesia) and the UCI Gran Fondo Brasil joined the party with their inaugural editions. Between these two new events, the Tre Valli Varesine (Italy) continued the legacy of the 2018 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships. Finally, the Granfondo Antalya, in Turkey, closed the year and set a new participants’ record of 1,150 riders.
The 2023-2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Series is already well underway!
New events join regular fixtures
Many more summits await the Gran Fondo enthusiasts in 2024. Alongside regular fixtures – the Maraton Franja BTC City (Slovenia) scheduled for June, has been part of the series since its first edition in 2011, just like Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo – more and more events appear.
In March, the maiden Millars Gran Fondo (Spain) slots in between the Granfondo Coimbra Region (Portugal) and the Cyprus Granfondo. The following month, the UCI Gran Fondo World Series visits Croatia (Istria Gran Fondo), Australia (Tour de Brisbane), Austria (Neusiedler See Radmarathon) and France (66 Degrés Sud). In May, the 3RIDES Gran Fondo (Germany) joins a packed schedule alongside the Majka Granfondo (Poland), the Cheaha Challenge Granfondo (USA), the Granfondo Vosges (France), the Schleck Granfondo (Luxembourg) and the Hawaii Express 43. Tartu Rattaralli (Estonia).
June will also be a busy month around the world. As well as Slovenia’s long-standing Maraton Franja BTC City, qualification opportunities will come at the CRC 506 Gran Fondo of Costa Rica and the Niseko Classic (Japan), as well as two new events to the UCI Gran Fondo World Series: the Gran Fondo Svendborg (Denmark) and the Granfondo Serbia Novi Sad.
There will be two more opportunities in July – at the Granfondo Suisse (Switzerland) and the Gran Fondo Isle of Man (British Isles) – ahead of the rainbow battles. In total, 26 countries are set to hold events on the way to Aalborg, where a full programme awaits the qualified riders with the time trials (on a course almost identical to that used in the 2022 and 2023 Danish National Championships), the team relay (on a short urban course) and the Medio Fondo and Gran Fondo (with small hills and technical sections, featuring cobbles).